Chapter 4 - Paradise Had Wi-Fi
David was handcuffed in the living room where Lily used to build blanket forts.
The irony was unbearable.
Agent Cole read him his rights.
David barely listened.
His eyes remained fixed on my phone.
On the screen where Lily’s final voicemail still waited.
“I want to hear it again.”
I locked the phone.
“No.”
“Maya, please.”
“You had your chance.”
His face twisted.
“I didn’t know.”
“That stopped being an excuse when you rejected call number one.”
Julianne suddenly sat on the bottom stair.
Her expensive shopping bag collapsed beside her.
“What offshore transfers?”
David glared at her.
“Stay quiet.”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“You told me this investigation was finished.”
Agent Cole turned.
“You knew about an investigation?”
Julianne looked trapped.
“I knew regulators were asking questions.”
David closed his eyes.
“Julianne.”
She pointed at him.
“You said it was routine.”
“You told me Maya was paranoid and trying to control the company.”
I felt something bitter rise inside me.
Even while Lily was dying, David had been telling his mistress I was the unstable one.
Agent Cole removed several printed pages.
“Between Tuesday and Thursday, Mr. Vance’s credentials approved transfers totaling eleven point eight million dollars.”
David said nothing.
“Three million went to Carrow Consulting.”
“Four point two million went to Blue Meridian Ventures.”
“Four point six million went to an account held by Horizon Lifestyle Management.”
Julianne’s head lifted.
“Horizon?”
Agent Cole looked at her.
“You know it?”
Her face went pale.
“That company paid for the yacht.”
David closed his eyes.
Agent Cole continued.
“It also paid for jewelry, airfare, private dining, and two resort villas.”
Julianne turned toward David.
“You told me those were personal funds.”
“They were.”
Agent Cole replied before David could.
“No.”
“They originated from a restricted corporate reserve partially secured by the Lily Vance Trust.”
Julianne stood so quickly that the shopping bag fell over.
A velvet jewelry box rolled across the floor.
The lid opened.
Inside was an emerald bracelet.
I recognized it.
It had belonged to my mother.
I had kept it in a safe-deposit box after she died.
I stared at David.
“Where did you get that?”
Julianne looked confused.
“He gave it to me on the yacht.”
My skin went cold.
“That belonged to my mother.”
Julianne immediately removed a matching emerald ring from her finger.
“I didn’t know.”
David looked away.
That hurt differently.
The affair had humiliated me.
Ignoring Lily had destroyed something inside me.
But taking my dead mother’s jewelry and putting it on Julianne turned his betrayal into something almost surgical.
Agent Cole bent down and placed the bracelet into an evidence bag.
David finally spoke.
“I can explain everything.”
Agent Cole nodded.
“I hope so.”
“Because we recovered more than financial records from the yacht.”
David’s face tightened.
Agent Cole looked directly at him.
“We recovered a recording.”
The room became silent again.
“A recording of what?”
Agent Cole closed the evidence bag.
“A conversation between you and your chief financial officer.”
May you like
“And on that recording, you discuss Maya’s signature.”
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