Chapter 5 - Aster Lane
The Sinclair Global headquarters occupied forty-two floors of glass and steel in Manhattan.
Victoria had always liked the building because nothing appeared hidden.
That illusion lasted until she entered the forensic accounting room.
Her internal audit director, Priya Nance, covered one wall with transaction maps.
Aster Lane Partners sat in the center.
“It isn’t one vendor,” Priya said.
“It’s a funnel.”
Payments came from three Sinclair-controlled entities.
The family trust.
Sinclair BioDiagnostics.
And a private real estate subsidiary.
Total over five years:
$86.4 million.
Victoria stared.
“Why did the preliminary audit show thirty-eight?”
“Because the rest was coded through unrelated expenses.”
“Who approved them?”
“Different people.”
“Names.”
Priya hesitated.
“Some approvals were Luke Carter.”
Hannah’s husband.
“Some were David Blake.”
Edmund’s nephew.
“Some were Adrian Sinclair.”
Victoria’s cousin.
“And?”
Priya turned another page.
“Several were approved through legal override.”
Graham.
Victoria said nothing.
Priya continued.
“Aster Lane is owned through two Delaware entities. The beneficial ownership records are not public.”
“Find them.”
“We’ve issued preservation requests through counsel.”
Victoria looked at her.
“Which counsel?”
Priya hesitated.
That answer mattered.
“Outside counsel.”
“Not Graham.”
“No.”
“Good.”
Adrian Sinclair arrived from Aspen that afternoon under a cloud of suspicion.
He was thirty-three.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
More relaxed than Victoria.
Which had always irritated her.
He walked into the conference room, saw the transaction wall, and said, “You finally found it.”
Victoria stared.
“You knew?”
“Parts.”
“And didn’t tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Three times.”
“Don’t insult me.”
Adrian opened his phone.
He showed her emails.
One sent eight months earlier.
Subject: Aster Lane / trust exposure.
Recipient: Victoria Sinclair.
The message had been intercepted by an administrative legal filter and routed to Graham’s review queue.
Victoria had never received it.
Another had been marked “resolved by counsel.”
A third had been forwarded to Julian.
Victoria felt anger rise.
“Why didn’t you walk into my office?”
Adrian laughed.
“You hated me.”
“I did not.”
“You thought I wanted your job.”
“You do.”
“That doesn’t mean I wanted you dead.”
Silence.
Adrian sat.
“My father told me Aster Lane was a legitimate restructuring vehicle. Then I found one of the receiving accounts tied to a property he owns through a trust.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
“Julian owns it.”
“Indirectly.”
“How much?”
“At least twelve million that I could trace.”
“And the lab vial?”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“I didn’t remove it.”
“Your credentials did.”
“My hardware token disappeared for forty minutes during the medical division retreat.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
The same week Graham authorized the transfer case.
Victoria looked at Priya.
“Can we verify?”
“We can verify the token was used from a workstation Adrian was not logged into.”
“Which workstation?”
Priya opened the access record.
Legal compliance.
Graham’s department.
Victoria stood very still.
Adrian said quietly, “Still think I’m trying to steal your job?”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“Good.”
“Now I also think somebody wanted me to believe you tried to kill me.”
His smile vanished.
The family rivalry suddenly looked different.
Adrian had always challenged her in board meetings.
Julian had encouraged it.
Two potential heirs fighting while someone else moved money between them.
Victoria felt manipulated.
She hated that more than losing.
That evening Detective Chen obtained an arrest warrant for Edmund.
A toll camera had captured him entering a motel outside Newark.
He was arrested without incident.
Victoria asked to attend the interview.
Chen refused.
“You are a victim.”
“I’m also his employer.”
“Not relevant.”
“He served my family for twenty-seven years.”
“Still not relevant.”
Victoria clenched her jaw.
Chen looked at her.
“You want control because someone tried to take it from you.”
Victoria said nothing.
“That does not make control evidence.”
Victoria hated the detective for being right.
Edmund initially denied everything.
Then investigators showed him the vial.
The missing EpiPen drawer.
Ellie’s statement.
His route through the service passage.
He asked for an attorney.
Four hours later, his attorney approached prosecutors about a proffer.
No immunity.
No promises.
Just information.
Edmund admitted placing the substance in Victoria’s champagne.
He admitted removing her emergency injectors earlier that evening.
He admitted searching Hannah’s room for Ellie’s backup.
Victoria listened to Chen’s summary later.
The detail turned her stomach.
“He was going to remove Ellie’s too?”
“He tried.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“Couldn’t find the backpack.”
Rosie had been “eating crackers” in the pantry.
A four-year-old’s game had prevented Edmund from removing the only medicine that saved Victoria.
Victoria sat down.
“Why did he do it?”
Chen’s expression changed.
“He says he was forced.”
“By Julian?”
“He won’t say yet.”
“Graham?”
“He won’t say.”
“Then forced by whom?”
Chen closed her notebook.
“Someone knew Edmund had been stealing from Sinclair household accounts.”
Victoria stared.
“How much?”
“About four hundred twenty thousand dollars over seven years.”
“For himself?”
“Mostly transferred to his daughter.”
“Why?”
“Medical debt. Mortgage debt. Some cash withdrawals.”
Victoria felt no sympathy for theft.
But she understood the leverage immediately.
“Someone threatened to expose him.”
“Yes.”
“And prison.”
“Yes.”
Chen continued.
“He says the person offered to make the theft disappear if he helped with one thing.”
Victoria’s voice became quiet.
“Me.”
Chen nodded.
Before leaving, she handed Victoria a photocopy of one line from Edmund’s statement.
I was told Miss Sinclair would be dead before midnight and Mr. Julian would take control by morning.
Victoria stared at the sentence.
May you like
Then Chen added:
“Edmund says the person who told him that was not Julian.”
