Chapter 7 - The Company Was Built With My Money
Nebula Systems was supposed to be Richard’s success story.
For years, every family dinner included some version of the same speech.
Richard was a visionary.
Investors simply didn’t understand him yet.
One major contract would change everything.
Now I knew the truth.
Nebula had survived because someone kept feeding it cash.
My cash.
Rachel subpoenaed nothing yet. We were not ready to expose ourselves.
Instead, I used public corporate records, old investor presentations, tax documents legally available to me, and the statements already in my possession.
The pattern emerged slowly.
VLM Advisory transferred money to Blue Lantern.
Blue Lantern transferred money to Nebula vendors.
Those vendors paid consulting fees back to entities connected to Martin Vale.
It was a circle.
My stolen money entered the circle.
Martin collected fees.
Richard kept his dying company alive.
Eleanor protected the scheme.
And Eric kept me distracted.
But one piece still made no sense.
Why would Eric risk everything for Richard?
Then Sarah gave me the answer.
She sent a photograph of an old shareholder agreement she found inside Richard’s safe.
Nebula Systems had four original investors.
Richard Hayes.
Martin Vale.
Eleanor Hayes.
And E.H. Capital.
I stared at the initials.
Eric Hayes.
My husband owned eighteen percent of Nebula through a holding company.
He had never told me.
Not once.
Suddenly every unexplained business trip made sense.
Every time he claimed he was “helping Richard with a presentation.”
Every dinner where Nebula came up and Eric pretended not to care.
If the company collapsed, Eric would lose far more than pride.
He would lose the secret investment he had funded with my money.
Sarah called again.
“I found something else.”
“What?”
“A letter.”
“From who?”
“Martin.”
She read the first line.
Congratulations. Clara Bennett has accepted the invitation to the gala.
My mouth went dry.
The date was twelve years earlier.
Two years before Eric claimed we had met by chance.
And the letter was addressed to Eleanor.
May you like
At the bottom, Martin had written:
Your son can take it from here.
