The morning after Aaron signed the divorce papers, I woke before sunrise. Rain still tapped softly against the bedroom windows, but the storm had moved east, leaving the estate wrapped in a gray, almost weightless silence. For several minutes I remained still, staring at the ceiling and listening to the house settle around me. Four years of marriage had ended the night before, and yet the first thing I felt was not freedom. It was exhaustion.
My phone was already filled with messages. Lawyers. Bank officers. Michael. George. Three members of the Vance board. Everyone wanted confirmation that the transition at Vanguard Dynamics would proceed as planned. I answered only the messages that required an immediate decision. The rest could wait.
At eight, Michael came into the breakfast room carrying two folders and a cup of coffee. He put both on the table without speaking.
"You didn't sleep."
"Neither did you."
"I wasn't the one who signed divorce papers at midnight."
I looked at him.
"Don't start."
"I'm not starting anything."
He sat opposite me.
"I'm asking whether you're certain."
"I am."
Michael opened the first folder.
"The acquisition team has begun securing Vanguard's facilities. The workers are still employed. Payroll will clear."
"Good."
"The banks are cooperating now that Vance is guaranteeing the operating accounts."
I nodded.
Then he opened the second folder.
"This is different."
Inside were copies of financial transfers from Vanguard's internal accounts.
I studied the first page.
"What's wrong?"
Michael tapped a series of payments.
"These weren't included in the financial statements Aaron gave us."
I frowned.
"How much?"
"Almost sixty million."
The number made me sit straighter.
"Where did it go?"
"We don't know yet."
I turned the pages.
The transfers had been divided into dozens of smaller amounts. Different dates. Different subsidiaries. Several consulting companies I did not recognize.
"Could Aaron have authorized them?"
"He could have."
"Did he?"
Michael shook his head.
"His electronic signature appears on some of them. But that's not what concerns me."
He turned to another page.
"The money moved through a private account controlled by someone named Victor Hale."
I recognized the name.
"Victor was Aaron's former CFO."
"Former?"
"He resigned eighteen months ago."
Michael looked at me.
"According to Vanguard's records, he left voluntarily."
"That's what Aaron told me."
Michael leaned back.
"Then why has Victor been receiving payments from Vanguard for the last eighteen months?"
I had no answer.
A cold sensation moved through my chest.
Not because I believed Aaron innocent.
Because I suddenly realized how much of the company I had never been allowed to see.
I spent the next three hours with the forensic accountants.
They reconstructed the transfers from the beginning.
The pattern became clearer with every document.
Money had been moved from Vanguard's operating accounts into consulting companies that had no employees, no physical offices, and no legitimate business history. Those companies then transferred portions of the money to another entity registered overseas.
That entity had one director.
Victor Hale.
I stared at the organizational chart.
"Why would Aaron hide this?"
The accountant hesitated.
"We don't know that he did."
"What does that mean?"
"There are two possibilities."
He pointed to the records.
"Either Mr. Prescott knew and participated, or someone used his authority without his knowledge."
I thought about the forged documents Jasmine had been connected to.
Then I remembered her reaction when Aaron mentioned the security logs.
She had not looked surprised.
She had looked afraid.
"Pull every file Jasmine accessed."
The accountant nodded.
Two hours later, we found something.
A folder had been deleted from the company server six months earlier.
It contained correspondence between Jasmine and Victor Hale.
Michael read the first message aloud.
"She asked whether the transfer had cleared."
I took the printed page.
The response from Victor was only one sentence.
"Everything is moving according to schedule."
My stomach tightened.
"What schedule?"
"We're still looking."
The next message answered that question.
It mentioned a date.
The date was three weeks after Vanguard's annual shareholder meeting.
I remembered that meeting.
Aaron had announced record growth.
Investors had applauded.
He had kissed me afterward and told me he could finally give me the life I deserved.
I had believed him.
Michael found another file.
"This one is from Jasmine."
I read it.
She had been asking Victor about "the wife."
My fingers tightened around the paper.
"She knew about me."
"Apparently."
"How long?"
"At least eighteen months."
That changed everything.
Jasmine had not entered Aaron's life because she suddenly became important to him.
She had been around much longer than that.
Perhaps she had been useful before she became personal.
I leaned back.
"What was she doing?"
Michael's voice became quieter.
"Finding out what you knew."
I looked at him.
"About the money?"
"Possibly."
The room felt smaller.
I thought about the photographs.
The messages.
The little provocations.
Jasmine had wanted me angry.
She had wanted me emotional.
She had wanted me to behave predictably.
And I had done the opposite.
I had stayed quiet.
I had watched.
I had collected documents.
Maybe that was why she had eventually pushed harder.
She had realized she could not make me leave by jealousy alone.
So she had taken my seat.
The realization made me almost smile.
Not because it was funny.
Because suddenly the airplane scene looked different.
Jasmine had not simply wanted the window seat.
She had wanted witnesses.
She wanted everyone in that cabin to see Aaron choose her over me.
She wanted the humiliation public.
And Aaron, blinded by his own arrogance, had helped her create exactly the scene she needed.
Michael closed the folder.
"What are you thinking?"
"That Jasmine wasn't acting alone."
"You think Victor is still involved?"
"I think we need to find him."
That evening, Aaron called me from a number I did not recognize.
I answered.
"Alyssa."
His voice was tired.
"How did you get this number?"
"You know I can still find ways to reach you."
I nearly ended the call.
Then he said, "I need to tell you something."
"What?"
"I didn't know about the sixty million."
I remained silent.
"I swear."
"Why should I believe you?"
"I don't know."
That was the first honest answer he had given me in days.
I asked, "Where are you?"
"At a hotel."
"Which one?"
He told me.
"Don't leave."
"Alyssa—"
"Don't leave until I get there."
I hung up.
Michael looked at me.
"You're going to see him?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I need to know whether my husband was a fool, a liar, or both."
He gave me a long look.
"And if he's telling the truth?"
I picked up the folder.
"Then someone has been manipulating both of us."
We drove through the city after dark.
When I entered the hotel room, Aaron was standing beside the window.
He looked thinner than he had two days earlier.
He turned when I entered.
"You came."
"I said I would."
He looked at Michael, then back at me.
"I didn't steal that money."
"Then tell me who did."
"I don't know."
"Victor?"
Aaron closed his eyes.
"I trusted him."
"That's not an answer."
He walked to the table.
"I fired him because I found irregularities."
"When?"
"Eighteen months ago."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't want you involved."
I stared at him.
"That's your excuse?"
"I thought I could handle it."
"You couldn't."
"No."
He looked down.
"I couldn't."
For the first time, I saw genuine shame in his face.
He opened a drawer and removed a small envelope.
"I kept this because I thought I might need it."
Inside was a handwritten note.
One sentence.
"If anything happens to me, check the Vance transfer."
I read it twice.
"Who wrote this?"
"Victor."
I looked up.
"When?"
"Before he disappeared."
I froze.
"You told everyone he resigned."
Aaron nodded.
"I lied."
"Why?"
"Because I was afraid."
The room became silent.
Aaron looked at me.
"I thought Victor was threatening the company. I thought if I admitted he had disappeared, investors would panic."
I folded the note carefully.
"You should have told me."
"I know."
He lowered his eyes.
"I know now."
I stood.
"Where did Victor go?"
"I don't know."
I looked at the note again.
Then at Aaron.
For the first time since our divorce, I saw something more dangerous than his pride.
Fear.
And I understood that the story I thought I knew had only been the surface.
Click Here to continue read next: PART6: Victor Had Vanished Months Earlier, but the Evidence He Left Behind Pointed Toward Someone Much Closer Than Either of Us Expected
She Took My Seat Before Takeoff, and My Husband Made It Clear Whose Comfort Mattered More Than Four Years of Marriage
Part 5 of 8
