Chapter 3 - My Wife Already Knew
“Daniel owns the company?”
Martin sounded like the sentence physically hurt him.
Nobody answered.
I didn't need to.
The Whitaker name was on the building.
They had simply never bothered to ask which Whitaker.
Martin turned toward Claire.
And that was when I saw it.
Not surprise.
Fear.
“You knew?”
Claire looked down.
Her father stepped toward her.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
The room erupted.
Linda shouted first.
“You let us humiliate him?”
Interesting choice of words.
Not:
You let us misunderstand him.
Humiliate.
She knew exactly what they had been doing.
Claire snapped:
“You were different when you thought he was poor!”
Martin stared at her.
“So you lied to us for eight years?”
“She asked me to.”
Everyone looked at me.
Claire’s eyes widened.
“Daniel.”
“You did.”
“Because I wanted them to treat you normally.”
I laughed once.
“Normally?”
Sophie standing coatless in snow flashed through my mind.
“That was normal?”
Claire looked away.
Martin regained his aggression.
“You cannot fire family over a domestic argument.”
“I didn't.”
I slid Rebecca’s report across the table.
“You were terminated for undisclosed related-party transactions, procurement violations and suspected misuse of corporate funds.”
His face changed.
Linda went still.
Claire stared at the report.
“What transactions?”
That reaction looked genuine.
I watched her carefully.
“Collins Strategic Services.”
Linda stood abruptly.
“I’m leaving.”
Rebecca said:
“I wouldn't.”
“Excuse me?”
“Our auditors have referred several transactions for independent review.”
Linda slowly sat back down.
Then Tyler shouted:
“This is revenge!”
Rebecca opened another folder.
“You billed 412 hours during a six-week period in which building-access records show you entered company facilities twice.”
Tyler stopped talking.
One by one, Rebecca explained.
Expense fraud.
Fictitious overtime.
Unauthorized vehicles.
Vendor kickbacks under investigation.
The arrogance drained out of the room.
Then Claire whispered:
“Daniel, can we talk privately?”
“No.”
Her eyes filled.
“You’re destroying my family.”
I looked at her.
“No, Claire.”
“You brought Sophie into a house full of adults who hated her father.”
“You watched them put her outside in December.”
“And then you handed me divorce papers.”
Silence.
“You made your decision before I made mine.”
She started crying.
I felt something.
Eight years doesn't disappear instantly.
But love can survive disappointment.
It cannot always survive revelation.
Then Rebecca touched my arm.
“We found another company.”
I looked over.
“Another?”
She nodded.
“Collins Strategic Services isn't the only vendor connected to them.”
Martin’s expression changed.
Tiny.
But I saw it.
Rebecca did too.
The second company was called Northbridge Materials.
Whitaker Construction had paid it $2.1 million.
May you like
And unlike Collins Strategic Services—
Claire’s name appeared on its original incorporation documents.
