Chapter 7 - The Recording
Julian demanded the phone.
Leo stepped behind his mother.
She immediately moved between them.
“Don't touch him.”
Julian stopped.
The room had changed.
He was no longer the powerful executive standing beneath the chandeliers.
He was a husband exposed.
A father being watched by his own son.
A businessman whose own board was beginning to question him.
Julian looked toward the recording.
“That isn't complete.”
His wife asked:
“What part is missing?”
Julian said nothing.
She stepped closer.
“You said you wanted control of the company after I signed.”
“That isn't what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?”
Julian couldn't answer.
Chloe suddenly spoke.
“I knew about the company.”
Julian turned.
She looked frightened.
“I knew he wanted the shares.”
His wife looked at her.
“But?”
Chloe swallowed.
“I didn't know he planned to take them through the trust.”
Julian stared at her.
“You're making this worse.”
Chloe laughed bitterly.
“You already did that.”
Marcus approached with another folder.
“There is something else.”
Julian looked at him.
“Not tonight.”
Marcus opened the folder anyway.
“These are transfers.”
He placed them on the table.
Payments had moved through several shell companies.
Some eventually reached an account connected to Julian.
Others had been routed through a consulting firm.
His wife recognized the name.
“Chloe?”
Chloe shook her head.
“That isn't mine.”
Marcus pointed to another line.
“This is.”
The name belonged to a company Julian had created years earlier.
His wife stared at the documents.
“How much?”
Marcus answered quietly.
“Over four million dollars.”
A gasp moved through the ballroom.
Julian looked around.
“This is confidential.”
One board member answered:
“Not anymore.”
Julian turned toward him.
“You're threatening me?”
“No.”
The man looked at Leo.
“We're protecting the company.”
Julian’s face changed.
His corporate network was turning against him.
Then Leo looked at the final document.
“Mom.”
She took it.
At the bottom was a signature.
Her signature.
Except she had never signed it.
May you like
👉 The money trail was only the beginning—the forged signature meant someone had planned to steal from her long before tonight.
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