Chapter 2 - THE MONEY TRAILThe next morning, Natalie showed me a spreadsheet.
I had seen financial spreadsheets my entire adult life.
This one made my hands shake.
“What's this?”
“Transfers.”
“From Grant?”
“From companies Grant controls.”
She highlighted several payments.
Consulting fees.
Construction expenses.
Charitable donations.
All apparently legitimate.
Except they weren't.
“Follow the money,” Natalie said.
I stared at the screen.
The payments all led to one company.
Tessa Monroe Consulting.
Tessa's company.
“How long?”
“Four years.”
Four years.
The affair had apparently lasted longer than I knew.
But the financial relationship was even older.
Grant had been paying Tessa long before he introduced her to me as a colleague.
“How much?”
Natalie hesitated.
“Approximately $740,000.”
I couldn't breathe.
“What?”
“He disguised the payments as consulting services.”
“Tessa doesn't consult.”
“We know.”
“Then what was the money for?”
Natalie leaned forward.
“We're still investigating.”
She opened another file.
There were transfers from Grant's business into offshore accounts.
Several of them were connected to a trust.
The beneficiary name was hidden.
But the signature authorizing the transfers was mine.
I stared.
“That isn't my signature.”
“I know.”
“Then who signed it?”
Natalie didn't answer.
Instead, she opened another document.
Grant had created a power of attorney using my name.
My stomach dropped.
He had been controlling more than household finances.
He had been using my identity.
“Why?”
Natalie looked at me.
“That's what we're trying to find out.”
I remembered something.
Years ago, Grant had asked me to sign documents related to his company.
He had told me they were routine.
I trusted him.
That trust had become his weapon.
Then Natalie said something that made everything worse.
“Penelope, there's another issue.”
“What?”
“Your husband's company has significant debt.”
“How much?”
“Over twelve million dollars.”
I stared at her.
“That's impossible.”
“His public financial statements don't show it.”
“Then where is it?”
She pointed to several shell companies.
“He borrowed against assets that didn't technically belong to him.”
I understood immediately.
“Family assets?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“Your assets.”
My heart sank.
My grandmother had left me a trust before I married Grant.
I had always kept it separate.
At least, I thought I had.
Natalie opened the trust documents.
“Your trust was used as collateral.”
I whispered:
“How?”
“Grant transferred management rights.”
I stared at the document.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
Again.
Forged.
Then Natalie showed me a second page.
The beneficiary of the trust had been changed.
My name was gone.
The new beneficiary was:
Grant Whitmore Family Foundation.
I couldn't speak.
The man who had told me I couldn't survive without him had spent years trying to make sure I truly couldn't.
But then Natalie smiled.
“You're going to like this.”
She opened the original trust agreement.
“The beneficiary cannot be changed without your grandmother's original trustee.”
“Who is that?”
Natalie looked at me.
“Your aunt.”
“My Aunt Clara?”
“Yes.”
“She died.”
Natalie nodded.
“Exactly.”
I stared at her.
“So how did he change it?”
May you like
Natalie leaned back.
“That's the question that could put Grant in prison.”
Related Stories
