Chapter 7 - The Divorce Trap
The divorce petition accused Emily of cruelty.
Financial abuse.
Corporate sabotage.
Public humiliation.
Preston requested emergency preservation of marital property.
Then he asked the court to freeze Emily’s voting rights until ownership questions were resolved.
Bold.
Desperate.
Predictable.
Emily’s attorney laughed when she read it.
“He is trying to convert his suspension into marital retaliation.”
“Can he?”
“He can try.”
The more dangerous filing came separately.
Preston claimed the pregnancy itself created a conflict because the unborn child’s trust rights were contingent on marital status.
He requested a temporary neutral trustee.
Emily looked at Ruth.
“He still wants the fourteen percent.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa, now cooperating through her own attorney, delivered another blow.
Preston had asked her months earlier to sign an affidavit stating Emily had threatened suicide if he left.
Vanessa refused.
That was why he needed the gala instead.
A public humiliation.
A visible emotional reaction.
Phones.
Witnesses.
He wanted evidence.
But Emily had given him almost none.
She had cried.
Then stood.
The court denied Preston’s emergency request.
Not permanently.
But enough.
He remained suspended.
Then the board completed its forensic review.
Redhouse losses exceeded ninety-two million dollars.
Some money had been returned.
Some hidden.
Some spent on Vanessa.
Some on Margaret’s properties.
Some on Preston’s personal investments.
But the largest transfer was still unexplained.
Thirty-one million dollars.
Destination:
Cedar North Capital.
Beneficial owner hidden.
Ruth traced it.
The company belonged to someone named Amelia Hart.
Emily had never heard the name.
Margaret had.
Her face turned white.
“Who is she?” Emily asked.
Margaret whispered:
“Preston’s sister.”
Emily stared.
“He doesn’t have a sister.”
“Yes.”
“He does.”
Amelia had been born before Preston.
James Whitmore had fathered her during an affair.
Margaret discovered the child years later.
She paid the mother to stay away.
Preston eventually found out.
Instead of rejecting the secret, he built a financial relationship with Amelia.
Cedar North became his emergency escape company.
The thirty-one million was there.
Vanessa stared at Margaret.
“You paid a woman to hide his sister?”
Margaret looked ashamed.
“I thought I was protecting my family.”
Emily nearly laughed.
Everyone in this story protected the family by destroying it.
Then Ruth found a property purchase.
Cedar North owned a private estate in Colorado.
Purchased eight months earlier.
Inside the mortgage file was an occupancy declaration.
Intended residents:
Preston Whitmore.
Amelia Hart.
And one dependent child.
Emily froze.
“What child?”
The file listed initials.
E.W.
No birth date.
No full name.
Ruth looked at Emily’s stomach.
Then back at the paper.
Preston had apparently planned for a child carrying the Whitmore name to live there.
May you like
But Emily’s baby had not yet been born.
Who was E.W.?
