Chapter 7 - JASMINE WASN’T THE ONLY ONE USING AARON
Jasmine cried for the first time in front of me.
Not because of Aaron.
Because of her father.
“I didn’t know.”
Maybe.
Maybe not.
We stopped assuming.
Corporate investigators reconstructed four years of communications.
Robert Cole had significant business debt.
His company survived largely because Prescott Global contracts kept arriving.
Melissa had originally approved small assignments.
Then Jasmine joined Prescott.
The contracts expanded.
Robert wanted more.
Celia became his inside source.
She provided schedules.
Board dates.
Executive travel.
Even information about family trust structures.
Then Celia found Grandpa’s abandoned proxy draft.
Robert apparently understood what Melissa did not.
If Aaron could vote Hawthorne’s shares, he could be made powerful.
Powerful people become useful when they believe the power is theirs.
Then came Jasmine.
Her father encouraged her to get close to Aaron professionally.
Emails proved that much.
But not the affair.
One message from Robert read:
Aaron needs someone he trusts completely.
Another:
Claire keeps him cautious. That needs to change.
Jasmine stared at it.
“I never saw these.”
They were messages between Robert and Celia.
Not her.
Then another email appeared.
Three months before Jasmine and Aaron’s affair began:
If Claire leaves him, Aaron will stop listening to anyone except Jasmine.
My marriage had been discussed as a corporate obstacle.
I should have been furious.
Instead I felt strangely free.
People had been manipulating Aaron from every direction.
Melissa.
Robert.
Celia.
Maybe Jasmine.
And Aaron’s response to all of it had been consistent.
He chose whatever made him feel most important.
That part belonged to him.
Then investigators found the reason behind the $12.4 million attempted transfer.
Robert’s company had a debt due that week.
$11.7 million.
Without payment, he would lose control of several assets.
Celia attempted to push the transfer through Prescott Global using Aaron’s credentials.
Not sophisticated enough to survive a proper treasury review.
But desperate people mistake access for intelligence.
Police and counsel handled the rest.
Celia eventually turned herself in through an attorney.
Robert denied directing fraud.
Investigations continued.
I stopped caring about dramatic labels.
What mattered was documents.
Then Jasmine asked to speak to me alone.
“No.”
She looked surprised.
“You’ve had seven months alone with my husband. We don’t need privacy.”
Fair enough.
She spoke with lawyers present.
“I’m resigning.”
Nobody reacted.
“And I’m ending things with Aaron.”
Aaron laughed bitterly.
“Generous.”
Jasmine ignored him.
Then she looked at me.
“There’s something you should know.”
“What now?”
“The first night Aaron and I slept together, he cried afterward.”
Aaron’s face went white.
I did not want this information.
But Jasmine continued.
“He said he had ruined the only relationship where anyone ever knew him before he became impressive.”
I looked at Aaron.
For once, he couldn’t meet my eyes.
Jasmine whispered:
“He knew exactly what he was losing.”
That was somehow more painful than believing he had forgotten.
Then she added:
“And Claire, the fifth night—the night you posted on Slack—Aaron had already told me it was over.”
I stared.
“What?”
“He came to the hotel to end it.”
Aaron looked at me.
“That’s true.”
Then why stay all night?
He answered before I asked.
“Because after I ended it, Daniel arrived.”
His COO.
His oldest friend.
The man who had been with Aaron’s laptop.
May you like
Aaron swallowed.
“Daniel told me someone inside Prescott Global was preparing a takeover.”
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