Chapter 4 - THE SECOND EXECUTIVE PROFILE
The duplicate profile had been created six months earlier.
It used Julian’s name.
His photograph.
His signature.
And a separate authentication device registered to Camila’s phone.
She sat on the edge of the penthouse sofa while investigators searched the laptop.
“I didn’t know about forty-two million dollars.”
Naomi looked at her.
“Your phone approved the request.”
“Julian took my phone earlier.”
“When?”
“Before Elena arrived.”
“Why?”
“He said he needed to check a reservation.”
The investigators compared timestamps.
The reserve transfer had been scheduled at 10:46 p.m.
Long before I was thrown out.
Julian had not acted impulsively after losing access.
He had planned to move the money that night.
My humiliation in the lobby was not only personal.
It was cover.
He wanted employees focused on the argument.
He wanted me removed from the property.
He wanted Camila inside the penthouse with the financial records.
Then the reserve money would disappear before anyone understood the executive structure.
“What account was supposed to receive it?” I asked.
Naomi turned the screen toward me.
The receiving company was Meridian Coast Holdings.
Registered in the Cayman Islands.
Its beneficial owner was hidden.
Camila whispered:
“I know that name.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Julian said Meridian Coast was buying the family out.”
“What family?”
“Yours.”
“He told me you agreed to sell.”
“When?”
“After your father’s heart surgery.”
My father had never had heart surgery.
He had spent one week at a private clinic for a knee replacement.
Julian had used the absence to create a story.
Camila continued.
“He said your family was desperate for cash.”
“He said the resorts were worth less than the debt.”
“He said forty-two million would finalize the first phase.”
“The reserves were going to purchase properties already owned by our trust,” Naomi said.
Camila looked confused.
Julian planned to move company money into a shell company.
Then Meridian Coast would pretend to buy selected trust assets.
The properties would never legally transfer because the trust had not approved a sale.
But the forty-two million would remain offshore.
When auditors discovered the missing funds, Julian could claim the trust blocked an authorized transaction.
He had built a dispute large enough to hide theft.
I looked toward the bedroom.
“Where is his passport?”
Camila swallowed.
“He keeps a second one in the study safe.”
“Second passport?”
“He has citizenship through St. Kitts.”
I had known about the application.
Julian told me it was for easier international development.
I had not known it had been approved.
The safe opened with my grandmother’s birth date.
Julian had never changed the code.
Inside were two passports.
Cash in three currencies.
A private aircraft schedule.
And a folder labeled MORNING TRANSITION.
The first page was a press release.
JULIAN VALE ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF AURELIA RESORTS.
The release described me as a “departing minority shareholder.”
It claimed I had agreed to withdraw from operations due to health concerns.
My father was described as retired and medically unavailable.
Camila was named chief brand officer.
The announcement was scheduled for 6:00 a.m.
By sunrise, Julian intended to tell the world he had purchased the empire.
He expected the offshore transfer to appear as the acquisition payment.
The news would create confusion.
Lenders and journalists might accept the first version long enough for him to leave the country.
Naomi found another document.
A resignation letter in my name.
My electronic signature appeared at the bottom.
So did a physician’s statement.
The doctor claimed I suffered from severe emotional instability.
I recognized the name.
Dr. Marcus Vale.
Julian’s older brother.
He had never treated me.
Camila stared at the letter.
“He said you had a breakdown last year.”
“I had surgery.”
“He said you spent six weeks in psychiatric care.”
“I spent six days recovering from an ovarian cyst.”
Camila covered her mouth.
The lies Julian told her were not excuses for her choices.
But she was finally understanding the size of the system she had joined.
The penthouse door opened.
Sofia entered carrying an evidence bag.
Inside was a syringe.
“We found this inside the minibar cabinet.”
Camila stood quickly.
“That isn’t mine.”
The label carried my name.
It contained a powerful sedative.
Beside it was a typed incident report scheduled for 1:00 a.m.
According to the report, I would return to the resort intoxicated, attack Camila, and collapse in the lobby.
May you like
Julian had not merely planned to remove me from the company.
He had planned to make my removal look medically necessary.
