Chapter 11 - The second ticket
Martin denied choosing the same numbers intentionally.
Lottery terminal logs showed both tickets were Quick Pick.
Randomly generated.
But they were not identical.
Only five numbers matched.
The sixth differed.
Martin’s ticket did not win.
The claims official had simplified.
Still, why mention it?
Because Martin scanned his ticket four minutes after I scanned mine.
Same app network.
Same general location.
That activity may have triggered the surveillance analysts monitoring me.
Martin wasn’t part of the lottery fraud.
He was simply nearby and being watched too.
Again, coincidence collided with conspiracy.
The case became cleaner.
No rigged drawing.
No planned jackpot.
Just people reacting badly to luck.
Then Martin provided the biggest piece yet.
Meridian’s actual controlling partner.
Not Graham.
Not Rodrigo.
A woman named Celeste Warren.
Chairwoman of Vithera’s board.
Mariana adored her.
Mentor.
Sponsor.
The woman who pushed her promotion.
Celeste had designed the management buyout.
Rodrigo handled operations.
Graham handled private wealth structures.
Wynn handled legal pressure.
Martin handled intelligence gathering.
And Mariana?
Public face.
Credible executive.
Conveniently close to me.
I felt something ugly.
“Did Celeste encourage Mariana to date me?”
No.
We had met years before Mariana joined Vithera.
Good.
At least one memory survived.
But Celeste later realized my consulting history gave Mariana indirect access to a potential problem.
She kept Mariana close.
Promoted her.
Then Rodrigo began the affair.
Whether Celeste encouraged that remained unclear.
Then Celeste voluntarily appeared with counsel.
She denied illegal conduct.
Called Meridian’s work legitimate restructuring.
Blamed Rodrigo for unauthorized actions.
Blamed Graham for overreach.
Blamed Wynn for forged documents.
Classic.
Everyone was independent once investigators arrived.
Then Samuel discovered the money flow.
Payments from Meridian to Graham.
Graham to Wynn.
Wynn to a private investigator.
Investigator to Chloe Mason.
Celeste’s signature approved Meridian payments.
Not proof she knew every downstream act.
But enough to make her attorneys nervous.
Then another financial line appeared.
Meridian had transferred $900,000 into an account controlled by Mariana.
She stared.
“That isn’t mine.”
Account name:
M. Hale Consulting.
She had never formed it.
Someone had created a company in her name too.
The plan might have included framing her for corporate fraud once she was no longer useful.
Rodrigo had not been preparing a life with Mariana.
He had been preparing an exit without her.
She finally understood.
The man she was leaving me for had planned to leave her holding the bag.
Then she whispered:
“After today, you won’t need him anymore.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“That’s what he said.”
“Yes.”
She shook her head.
“I thought he meant you.”
“What did he mean?”
Her face went white.
“The board vote.”
If the acquisition closed that night, Mariana was supposed to become president of the new division.
A company already loaded with fraudulent transactions.
May you like
She wasn’t being promoted.
She was being positioned.
