Chapter 7 - The Signature He Could Not Explain
Declan met us in the forty-second-floor boardroom.
Apparently security had called him after I requested the original transfer records.
He stood beside his mother when Elena and I entered.
Celeste looked immaculate.
Declan looked as if he had aged overnight.
The independent trustee, Graham Pierce, sat at the end of the table.
Four auditors occupied the opposite side.
A stack of documents waited in front of my chair.
Graham did not waste time.
“Mrs. Whitmore, as Trust Protector, you requested an emergency review.”
I flinched at the name.
Sarah Whitmore.
It already felt borrowed.
“I did.”
“We have identified approximately forty-six million dollars in transfers requiring explanation.”
Celeste leaned back.
“All legitimate.”
Graham turned toward her.
“You will have the opportunity to establish that.”
He handed me three authorization pages.
Declan’s signature appeared at the bottom.
I looked at him.
“You signed these.”
He stared at the paperwork.
“Yes.”
“For Brier’s company.”
“I didn’t know it was hers.”
“That is impossible.”
“The vendor was listed under an acquisition code.”
Celeste interrupted.
“Declan authorized bundled consultant expenses.”
I looked at her.
“I asked him.”
Her mouth closed.
Declan pulled one page toward him.
“I was told these covered restructuring consultants in Europe.”
“By whom?”
His eyes moved toward his mother.
Celeste’s expression warned him.
Declan saw it.
So did everyone else.
“By my mother’s office.”
Celeste slammed her palm against the table.
“Enough.”
Graham remained calm.
“Mrs. Whitmore, please sit.”
“I will not be interrogated inside my own company by a girl who became family yesterday.”
I looked at her.
“Your company survived because my father wrote a check.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“And you think that makes you qualified to run it?”
“No.”
I placed my hand on the transfer documents.
“But it makes me qualified to ask where forty-six million dollars went.”
The room fell silent.
Then Graham’s assistant entered.
She whispered something to him.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Graham looked at Celeste.
“We have another issue.”
He slid a newly printed document across the table.
It was a wire request submitted at 6:32 that morning.
Four hours after Declan returned from Brier’s apartment.
The amount was ninety million dollars.
Destination.
A private investment fund in the Cayman Islands.
Authorization requested by Celeste Whitmore.
Secondary authorization pending.
I looked at Declan.
His phone buzzed.
He read the message.
Then looked at his mother.
“You asked me to approve this twenty minutes ago.”
Celeste said nothing.
Declan placed his phone on the table.
The message was visible to everyone.
SIGN THE TRANSFER.
May you like
DO NOT ASK QUESTIONS.
For the first time, my husband looked at his mother like he did not recognize her.
