Chapter 2 - The Documents From Singapore
Dominic laughed nervously.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Eleanor slid a document across the table.
He did not pick it up.
I watched his confidence struggle against instinct.
“What is this?”
“The amended shareholder agreement you signed fourteen months ago.”
His eyes narrowed.
“That was for the Asian expansion.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor nodded.
“And the Asian expansion saved Sterling Meridian from insolvency.”
Brooke looked between us.
“What does any of this have to do with Clara?”
I finally looked at her.
“Quite a lot.”
Two years earlier, Sterling Meridian had been drowning.
Dominic founded the company eight years before we married.
He was brilliant at selling ideas and terrible at building systems.
By the time I left for Singapore, three major lenders were threatening to pull out.
Our biggest client had walked.
Cash reserves were disappearing.
I negotiated the contract that changed everything.
A forty-eight-million-dollar logistics agreement spanning Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea.
But the investors demanded one condition.
Operational control had to remain with me until the expansion reached profitability.
Dominic had signed.
He was so desperate for the financing that he never bothered understanding what that meant long-term.
Eleanor tapped the document.
“When the final performance milestone was reached last month, Clara’s preferred shares converted.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“To what?”
“Fifty-four percent voting control.”
Brooke stopped smiling.
Victoria stared at me.
Dominic finally grabbed the document.
“This is impossible.”
“It is your signature.”
“You tricked me.”
“No.”
I spoke quietly.
“I saved your company.”
He flipped through the pages.
“You said the shares were temporary.”
“They were.”
“Until I completed the expansion.”
“And I completed it.”
His eyes lifted.
For the first time, he looked at me differently.
Not like a wife.
Like a person he had underestimated.
Brooke stepped closer.
“Dominic, she can’t just take your company.”
Eleanor answered.
“She didn’t.”
“She earned contractual control under terms he voluntarily approved.”
Dominic threw the papers down.
“Fine.”
“We’ll deal with the company later.”
He pointed toward Leo.
“This ridiculous performance about the boy—”
Dr. Keller stood.
“Do not call a four-year-old child a performance.”
The room went quiet.
She had examined Leo only briefly from a distance.
Even that had been enough.
“He needs a medical assessment immediately.”
Victoria scoffed.
“He has always been difficult.”
Naomi looked at her.
“I treated that child before Mrs. Sterling left the country.”
“He was healthy, social, verbal, and developmentally active.”
She pointed gently toward the coffee table.
“That child is showing severe fear responses.”
“I want to know why.”
Dominic looked at me.
“This is getting out of control.”
“No.”
I looked into his eyes.
“It was out of control before I walked through the door.”
Eleanor opened another folder.
“Mr. Sterling, there is another issue.”
Dominic looked exhausted already.
“What now?”
“Over the last eleven months, approximately 1.7 million dollars was transferred from Sterling Meridian accounts into three private companies.”
Brooke froze.
I saw it.
Just for a fraction of a second.
But I saw it.
May you like
Eleanor saw it too.
One of the private companies was registered to Brooke’s brother.
