Chapter 7 - THE AIRPORT
Federal agents stopped Nina at Logan.
Not arrested.
Detained for questioning.
She asked for immunity before anyone offered it.
That is rarely a sign of innocence.
Nina admitted the vendor network.
Julian approved inflated contracts.
Redwood returned part of the money through consulting fees.
Some went to Julian.
Some to Marcus, her brother.
Some to Camilla’s “campaign budget” for internal influence.
Camilla exploded when she heard that.
“I never got vendor money.”
Nina laughed.
“You got hotels.”
“Clothes.”
“Jewelry.”
Camilla touched my earrings without thinking.
I saw it.
Then Nina added.
“And the condo.”
Julian’s face changed.
“What condo?”
Camilla looked at him.
Beautiful.
For once.
He had not known.
Camilla owned a waterfront condo through a shell LLC.
Paid with Redwood funds.
The mistress had been stealing from the man who used her.
Perfect little ecosystem.
Then Nina turned to me.
“Audrey wasn’t supposed to be involved.”
Julian snapped.
“Stop talking.”
Nina ignored him.
“He said she was too passive to notice.”
That hurt.
Not because it was true.
Because part of me had been passive.
I had seen Julian dismiss waiters.
Talk over assistants.
Mock my foundation work.
I called it stress.
Ambition.
Confidence.
I had edited him in my own head.
Nina continued.
“The guarantee was supposed to protect the vendor if Aurelia collapsed.”
“Why use me?”
“Because your family trust was liquid.”
Julian knew that much.
He just never knew the scale.
Then federal counsel asked Nina about the earrings.
She frowned.
“What earrings?”
I pointed at Camilla.
Nina laughed.
“Oh.”
Camilla’s face tightened.
“What?”
Nina looked at me.
“She took those from your house the night they copied your signing certificate.”
The room went cold.
Camilla stopped breathing.
Julian said.
“That’s not true.”
Nina shrugged.
“I drove her.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“What else did she take?”
Nina answered.
“A black folder.”
My mother’s trust binder.
Inside were not only signature credentials.
There were letters.
One of them contained a private valuation of Northstar.
Enough to tell Julian I was not a small heiress.
Enough to tell him I had serious money.
He had known more than I thought.
Maybe not the company name.
But enough.
I looked at him.
“How long?”
He stared at the table.
“Julian.”
“Two months.”
My voice came out flat.
“You knew I was wealthy.”
He nodded.
Camilla looked at me.
May you like
“And that’s when he started talking about saving the marriage.”
