CHAPTER 2: THE NAME HE DIDN'T WANT ANYONE TO KNOW
CHAPTER 2: THE NAME HE DIDN'T WANT ANYONE TO KNOW
Nobody spoke.
The banker was still staring at me.
Derek forced a laugh.
"There must be some confusion."
The banker ignored him.
"Your grandfather was Harold Bennett?"
I nodded slowly.
"Yes."
Several executives gasped.
One woman nearly dropped her wine glass.
Derek's face went pale.
"What is happening?"
The banker looked stunned.
"You don't know?"
Know what?
I looked around the room.
Suddenly everyone seemed interested.
Very interested.
The banker turned back toward me.
"Ms. Bennett..."
He paused.
"Your family owns almost twelve percent of the investment fund financing your husband's company."
The world stopped.
"What?"
Derek looked like he might faint.
I stared at him.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Then a memory surfaced.
Three years earlier.
A stack of documents.
Derek asking me to sign them quickly.
Saying they were routine paperwork.
My pulse quickened.
"What documents did I sign?"
Derek immediately answered.
"Nothing important."
The banker laughed.
A short, nervous laugh.
"Nothing important?"
He looked at me.
"Those documents transferred voting authority over your shares."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
I felt sick.
"To who?"
The answer came instantly.
"To your husband."
Every muscle in my body tightened.
I turned toward Derek.
"You lied to me."
"It wasn't like that."
The room erupted with whispers.
The banker opened his tablet.
His expression changed.
Then changed again.
Now he looked horrified.
"What?"
He swallowed.
"There appears to be another issue."
Nobody breathed.
The banker slowly rotated the tablet toward me.
A list of transactions appeared.
Millions of dollars.
Millions.
Transferred into private accounts.
Over several years.
The account holder's name sat at the top of the screen.
A woman's name.
Not mine.
Not our daughter's.
Another woman's.
And beside me...
Derek suddenly stopped breathing.
Because standing in the ballroom entrance...
Holding a toddler in her arms...
May you like
Was the woman from the account.
END OF CHAPTER 2
