Chapter 5 - Graham Arden’s Debt
Graham Arden had always played the charming patriarch.
He wore old watches.
Told long stories.
Spoke about honor.
Called himself traditional.
Apparently tradition had become expensive.
Priya found loans.
Private debts.
Failed property investments.
Tax arrears.
A luxury development in Muskoka that had collapsed before construction.
Graham owed more than nine million dollars across several entities.
Genevieve knew.
Adrian knew.
I did not.
My company had become their rescue plan.
The $1.2 million transfer was only the beginning.
Emails revealed a proposed “temporary family facility” of four million.
Adrian intended to pull it from my company’s working capital.
He told Graham.
Isla will resist if we ask.
So we do it in stages.
I read that sentence until the words blurred.
Not.
Isla may disagree.
Not.
We should discuss it.
She will resist if we ask.
Adrian knew.
That removed the last excuse.
He had not misunderstood my generosity.
He had planned around my refusal.
Then Marisol found another email.
Genevieve to Adrian.
Do not involve Isla before Elodie’s wedding.
She is emotionally difficult around public events.
Once the family is together, she will behave.
There it was.
The wedding was leverage.
The guests were leverage.
My silence was supposed to become consent.
The chair was the test.
And if I passed by accepting humiliation, they would move money Monday morning.
I suddenly understood why Adrian was so desperate when I reached for the wedding gift.
He was not afraid I would embarrass Elodie.
He was afraid the entire timetable would collapse.
Bianca was not merely sitting beside him.
She was already being paid from the same system designed to save his father.
Everyone in that ballroom knew a different piece.
Genevieve knew the debts.
Adrian knew the transfers.
Bianca knew the consulting scheme.
Graham knew he needed money.
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And they all depended on one person not asking the right questions.
Me.
