Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE SHELL COMPANY
Vivien ran before anyone could ask the obvious question.
One second she was standing beside Carter beneath the chandeliers.
The next she was moving quickly toward the side exit.
“Stop her!” Charles shouted.
Two security officers blocked the doors.
Vivien froze.
Carter stepped in front of her.
“Don’t touch her.”
I almost laughed.
Even now, he was protecting her.
Charles looked at his son as if seeing a stranger.
“You transferred forty-eight million dollars into Northstar Advisory.”
Carter’s jaw tightened.
“It was a strategic acquisition fund.”
“No,” I said quietly. “It wasn’t.”
Every eye turned toward me.
I had known the name Northstar for three weeks.
My attorneys had found the Delaware registration while tracing Carter’s discretionary spending.
The company had no employees.
No physical headquarters.
No legitimate clients.
Just a mailbox, a trust account, and one hidden beneficiary.
Vivien Vance.
I faced her.
“Northstar was incorporated eighteen months ago, six weeks before you became a consultant for Harrington Global.”
Vivien’s face hardened.
“You’ve been spying on me?”
“I’ve been protecting my property.”
Carter scoffed.
“Your property?”
I looked at him.
“Thirty-one percent of Harrington Global belongs to my trust.”
That revelation caused a second wave of whispers.
Carter’s mouth opened.
Charles seemed to age ten years.
“You told me Serena was a passive investor,” Carter said to his father.
“She was supposed to be.”
The answer slipped out too quickly.
I turned toward Charles.
“Supposed to be?”
His expression changed.
I had heard it.
So had several board members standing nearby.
Something was wrong.
Carter suddenly looked less angry and more confused.
“What does that mean?”
Charles said nothing.
I stepped closer.
“Why was I supposed to remain passive?”
He glanced around the ballroom.
“This is not the place.”
“Actually, I think this is exactly the place.”
One of the board members, Nathaniel Cole, cleared his throat.
“Charles, perhaps we should move this discussion upstairs.”
“No,” I said.
Nathaniel avoided my eyes.
That was when I understood.
More people knew.
“How many of you knew about Northstar?”
Silence.
Then one woman near the front raised her voice.
“I knew.”
It was Evelyn Shaw, Harrington Global’s chief compliance officer.
Carter stared at her.
“You?”
Evelyn walked forward holding a leather folder.
“I reported Northstar to the audit committee four months ago.”
Charles looked furious.
“You were instructed to handle that internally.”
“And I tried.”
Evelyn opened the folder.
“But someone deleted the internal investigation.”
Carter immediately pointed at me.
“You think I did that?”
Evelyn looked directly at him.
“No.”
For the first time that evening, Carter appeared genuinely shocked.
“Then who?”
Evelyn removed a single page.
“The deletion authorization came from the founder’s executive credentials.”
Everyone looked at Charles.
His face went white.
Carter whispered, “Dad?”
Charles shook his head.
“I never deleted anything.”
Evelyn continued.
“There’s more.”
She looked at me.
“The forty-eight million wasn’t Northstar’s first payment.”
My pulse quickened.
“How many were there?”
“Seven.”
The room erupted.
I forced myself to remain still.
“What was the total?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Two hundred and sixty-three million dollars.”
Carter looked sick.
Even Vivien seemed stunned.
Then Evelyn said the sentence that changed everything.
“And every transfer was approved using Serena Harrington’s digital signature.”
May you like
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Because I had never authorized a single one.
