Chapter 7 - Blood and Boardrooms
The room fell dead silent. Chloe shrank back against the staircase, clutching the banister as if it were a life raft.
"June, please," Chloe whimpered, tears spilling down her cheeks on cue. "It was an accident! Leo was stressed about the wedding! We were just talking, and emotions got out of hand! You don't have to destroy the entire family over one mistake!"
"One mistake?" I laughed, the sound cold and sharp enough to draw blood. "You were sleeping with him for four months, Chloe. I saw the dates on the messages on his iPad while you two were upstairs laughing at me. You wore the diamond earrings he bought you with the joint account we opened for our honeymoon."
Leo flushed crimson, unable to meet my eyes.
"June, be reasonable," Eleanor pleaded, her tone abruptly shifting from rage to desperate negotiation as she realized Julian was not backing down. "You can annul this! It hasn't even been twenty-four hours! We will announce that the marriage was a clerical error, a private joke that got out of hand. Leo will apologize publicly, you two can have a quiet wedding next spring, and—"
"Are you deaf, Eleanor?" Julian cut in, his eyes narrowing into slits. "My wife is not marrying your spineless prospective son-in-law. She is already married. To a man who can actually manage his empire."
Julian reached into his pocket and tossed a manila folder onto the center table. It hit the wood with a dull thud.
"What is that?" Leo asked, his voice shaking.
"That," Julian said, "is the audited report of the Mercer Maritime subsidiary you’ve been running for the last eighteen months, Leo. It details two point four million dollars in unexplained discretionary spending, funneled through shell companies registered under Chloe Whitaker's maiden name."
Chloe let out a choked gasp. Eleanor went completely white.
"You embezzled from my firm to fund your sister-in-law's retail venture," Julian said coldly. "Now, I have two choices. I can hand this binder to the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California tomorrow morning... or you can sign over your remaining founder shares in the rail corridor to June."
Leo swayed on his feet, looking like a man standing on the edge of a gallows. "Uncle Julian... please. Dad will kill me."
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"Your father already knows," Julian replied without mercy. "He signed off on the transfer twenty minutes ago to keep your name out of the federal registry. Sign the documents, Leo. Or pack an overnight bag for Lompoc."
***
