The officers stopped.
Victor's eyes remained on Dominic.
“What did you say?”
Dominic was breathing hard.
“I didn't create that account.”
Marcus approached.
“What account?”
Dominic looked at him.
“The Sterling family trust.”
Marcus's expression changed.
“Which trust?”
“The old one.”
Victor's voice became dangerously quiet.
“Name it.”
Dominic swallowed.
“The Northbridge Trust.”
Victor said nothing.
I had heard that name once.
Years ago.
My father had mentioned it during a family dinner, then changed the subject when I asked what it was.
I had assumed it was another investment vehicle.
Now I wasn't so sure.
Marcus took out his phone.
He typed rapidly.
Then stopped.
“That's impossible.”
Victor looked at him.
“What?”
Marcus turned the screen toward him.
“There was no activity in that trust for more than a decade.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“There is now.”
Victor stared at him.
“How did you know about it?”
Dominic looked at me.
“Because someone used it.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
He hesitated.
Then said, “Chloe.”
The room shifted again.
Chloe.
His secretary.
The woman downstairs who had looked at my coat as though it proved I was insignificant.
The woman who had told me I didn't belong.
Victor's security team immediately moved.
“Find her.”
One officer touched his earpiece.
“She left the building.”
Victor's face hardened.
“Lock the exits.”
“Already done.”
Marcus looked at the security director.
“Check the service elevators.”
A message came through.
“She was seen entering the lower garage.”
Victor nodded.
“Stop her.”
The ballroom doors closed.
Dominic looked at me.
“I didn't know what she was doing at first.”
I stared at him.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I knew she handled some transfers.”
“You signed them.”
“Yes.”
“So you knew.”
“I knew about the money.”
His voice dropped.
“I didn't know where all of it went.”
Victor stepped toward him.
“How much?”
Dominic shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Marcus looked at Victor.
“I'll handle the investigation.”
Victor nodded.
The prosecutors moved Dominic toward the exit.
He resisted.
“Wait.”
They stopped.
He looked at me.
“Vivienne.”
I didn't answer.
“There are things I need to tell you.”
“You've had eight years.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
He laughed weakly.
“Of being nothing.”
That answer hurt more than an excuse would have.
He looked around the ballroom.
“All of this mattered to me.”
“The title?”
“The respect.”
“The money?”
“Yes.”
He swallowed.
“But not because I wanted to hurt you.”
“You hurt me anyway.”
“I thought I could become someone.”
“You already were someone.”
He shook his head.
“No. Not beside you.”
I stared at him.
He finally said what I had never heard him admit.
“You were always better than me.”
I felt no satisfaction.
Only exhaustion.
“You could have told me.”
“I was ashamed.”
“So you lied.”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“At least that's honest.”
The officers began moving him again.
Then Victor stopped them.
“Wait.”
He looked toward the entrance.
A security officer hurried in.
“We found Chloe.”
Victor turned.
“Where?”
“In the parking garage.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
The officer hesitated.
“She was with Harrison's financial adviser.”
Harrison went pale.
“My adviser?”
Victor looked at him.
“Apparently.”
Marcus closed his portfolio.
“Bring them both upstairs.”
Minutes later, Chloe entered between two security officers.
Her expensive composure was gone.
She was breathing heavily.
A small electronic drive was clutched in one hand.
Victor saw it.
“So that's what you were running for.”
Chloe looked at me.
“You don't understand.”
I stepped closer.
“Then explain.”
She stared at me.
“I thought you were nobody.”
“I know.”
“I thought Dominic built everything.”
“You were wrong.”
Her eyes filled.
“He told me the Sterling family was finished.”
Victor's face tightened.
“Who told you that?”
She looked toward Harrison.
He immediately shook his head.
“Don't look at me.”
Chloe began crying.
“I only followed instructions.”
Marcus took the drive from her.
“Whose instructions?”
She didn't answer.
Victor's voice sharpened.
“Whose?”
“Dominic's.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Chloe.”
She turned on him.
“You promised you'd protect me.”
He said nothing.
“You said the Sterling family wouldn't come after us.”
Victor looked at him.
“Interesting.”
Dominic whispered, “I didn't know.”
Victor gave a humorless smile.
“You keep saying that.”
Marcus examined the drive.
“There's another encrypted partition.”
Victor looked at him.
“Can you open it?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Minutes.”
The ballroom had become a courtroom without a judge.
Nobody touched the champagne anymore.
Nobody spoke above a whisper.
Sophia sat beside me on a nearby chair.
She leaned against my arm.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Can we go home?”
I looked at her.
“Yes.”
Victor heard.
He came over.
“You're leaving.”
I nodded.
“I don't need to watch anymore.”
He looked toward Dominic.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I had spent the evening wanting to see Dominic's world collapse.
Now I understood that watching it happen would not repair mine.
I took Sophia's hand.
We began walking toward the elevator.
Then Marcus spoke.
“Vivienne.”
I turned.
He held the recovered documents.
“You should see this.”
I didn't want to.
But something in his face stopped me.
He handed me one page.
I read the first line.
My name.
Not Vance.
Sterling.
Below it was a series of transfers.
Large amounts.
Payments made over several years.
All authorized through accounts Dominic controlled.
I looked at the dates.
Some were from before the first time I had suspected anything was wrong.
Some were from before Sophia was born.
My fingers tightened around the paper.
“What is this?”
Marcus answered carefully.
“Your husband wasn't simply stealing from Vanguard.”
I looked at him.
“He was using money routed through Vanguard to conceal transfers from your family's trust.”
I stared at the page.
Victor came beside me.
“Viv.”
I looked at him.
“Why would he need my family's trust?”
Victor's expression darkened.
“He shouldn't have known it existed.”
Behind us, Dominic spoke.
“I didn't.”
Everyone turned.
He looked at the document.
“Chloe did.”
Chloe shook her head.
“No.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You found it.”
“I found the account.”
“You told me it was dormant.”
“It was.”
“Then how did you access it?”
Chloe's face went blank.
Marcus suddenly looked at the drive again.
“There's a message here.”
Victor stepped closer.
“From whom?”
Marcus read silently.
Then his eyes lifted.
“It isn't from Chloe.”
“Who sent it?”
Marcus looked at me.
“Someone using your father's old authorization code.”
The room went completely still.
My father had been dead for years.
That code should have been impossible to use.
Victor took the drive.
“Can you identify the sender?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not yet.”
I looked at the screen.
One line of encrypted text remained visible.
A name appeared beneath it.
Not Dominic.
Not Chloe.
Not Harrison.
A name from my own family.
I felt Sophia's fingers curl around mine.
“Mommy?”
I couldn't speak.
Victor looked at the name.
His expression changed for the first time that night.
“That's impossible.”
I stared at him.
“Who is it?”
Victor didn't answer immediately.
Then he looked at me.
“Our brother.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART5: The Name on the Screen Belonged to Someone I Trusted, and the Answer Forced Me to Question What My Family Had Hidden
The Woman at the Door Told Me My Marriage Was a Lie, While My Daughter Held a Gift for Her Father
Part 4 of 8
