Chapter 2 - Rachel’s Father
Ethan let the phone ring.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then it stopped.
Rachel stared at him.
“Answer her.”
He looked at Clara.
Clara was trembling now.
“Rachel—”
“Answer your mother.”
Ethan called back on speaker.
Evelyn answered immediately.
“Ethan, finally. Victor says there may be a problem with tomorrow’s audit committee meeting.”
Rachel watched Clara.
The housekeeper closed her eyes when she heard the name Victor.
Victor Hale.
Chief financial officer of Calder Development Group.
Ethan’s mother’s closest executive ally.
Ethan said, “What problem?”
“The internal audit team found unusual transfers.”
“What kind?”
A pause.
“Why are you asking like you don’t know?”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Stay there.”
“Ethan?”
He ended the call.
Rachel laughed without humor.
“She knows.”
“We don’t know that.”
Rachel stared at him.
“You watched Clara tell your mother she planted a bank statement in our dining room.”
“I know what I watched.”
“Then why are you protecting her?”
“I’m not.”
“You always say that.”
The sentence changed the room.
Ethan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Rachel ignored him and turned toward Clara.
“What did you mean about my father?”
Clara backed toward the wall.
“I can’t.”
“You hit me with a tray to stop me seeing his photograph.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?”
Rachel stepped closer.
“You knew Robert Bennett.”
Clara started crying.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I worked for Calder Development before I worked in the house.”
Ethan looked stunned.
“You never told me that.”
“You were away at Stanford when I started.”
“What did you do?”
“Records.”
Rachel held up the photograph.
“My father’s company partnered with the Calders on Harbor Point.”
Clara nodded.
Harbor Point.
Rachel hadn’t said the name in years.
Eighteen years earlier, Bennett Urban Works had partnered with Calder Development Group to acquire sixteen acres of industrial waterfront in Brooklyn.
The project should have saved her father’s company.
Instead $11.2 million disappeared from project accounts.
Documents showed Robert Bennett authorized the transfers.
He was indicted.
Investors sued.
His company collapsed.
Although the criminal case never reached trial because of his death, newspapers called him a thief until the day he died.
Rachel had been twenty-four.
She remembered reporters outside their apartment.
Her mother crying behind closed curtains.
Her father saying only one thing.
“I did not take that money.”
Rachel had not known whether to believe him.
That uncertainty had haunted her ever since.
“What did you do?” she asked Clara.
Clara covered her mouth.
Ethan stepped forward.
“Clara.”
She shook her head.
“I can’t.”
“You just assaulted Rachel. Mia recorded your call. If someone forced you into this, this is the moment to say it.”
Clara looked toward Mia.
Shame crossed her face.
“I changed documents.”
Rachel’s stomach dropped.
“What documents?”
“Transfer approvals.”
Silence.
Clara continued.
“I was junior records staff. Mrs. Calder told me there had been an accounting error.”
“Evelyn?”
Clara nodded.
“She gave me replacement approval sheets with your father’s signature already on them.”
Rachel could barely breathe.
“Forged?”
“I didn’t know then.”
“Did you change the records?”
“Yes.”
The word landed softly.
Devastatingly.
Rachel looked at Ethan.
His face had gone pale.
Clara continued.
“Later I realized the original approvals had different account numbers.”
“Where did the money really go?”
“I don’t know.”
Rachel grabbed the edge of the table.
“You helped frame my father.”
Clara whispered, “Yes.”
Mia began crying.
Ethan turned.
“Sweetheart, go upstairs with Rosa.”
“No.”
“Mia.”
“No. Every time people tell me to leave, somebody lies.”
That silenced him.
Rachel looked at her daughter.
Then at Clara.
“Why are you doing it again?”
Clara’s shoulders collapsed.
“Because Mrs. Calder has everything.”
“What does that mean?”
“She kept copies.”
“Of the old forged records?”
“And my signature.”
“So she blackmailed you.”
Clara nodded.
“For years.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“And the account in Rachel’s name?”
Clara looked at the bank statement.
“I brought documents from Rachel’s office.”
Rachel felt cold.
“What documents?”
“Tax forms. An old passport copy. Signature samples.”
Ethan’s face twisted with anger.
“You stole my wife’s identity?”
“I didn’t open the account.”
“Who did?”
Clara looked away.
“Victor.”
Rachel and Ethan exchanged a look.
Victor Hale had managed Calder Development finances for twelve years.
He also sat on the board of the family trust that held shares for Mia.
Rachel said, “Why put almost four million dollars in my name?”
Clara whispered, “Because there’s more coming.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
“After tomorrow’s audit meeting.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“What happens tomorrow?”
Clara hesitated.
Then whispered, “They accuse Rachel of stealing from Calder Development.”
Rachel’s face went blank.
“Why?”
Clara looked at Ethan.
“Because of Mia’s trust.”
Rachel turned toward him.
“What about Mia’s trust?”
Ethan said nothing.
That frightened her.
“Ethan.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“My father’s estate left twenty-four percent of CDG in trust for Mia.”
“I know that.”
“You’re co-trustee with Northstar Fiduciary.”
“Yes.”
“If a trustee is convicted of fraud involving the company, she’s automatically removed.”
Rachel stared.
“Who replaces me?”
Ethan didn’t answer.
Clara did.
“Mrs. Calder.”
Rachel looked toward the city lights beyond the glass.
Evelyn already owned twenty-eight percent of Calder Development.
Control of Mia’s twenty-four percent would give her effective voting dominance with allied minority holders.
Enough to force the transaction she had demanded for two years.
The sale of Calder’s waterfront portfolio.
Rachel whispered, “The Meridian deal.”
Ethan nodded.
Meridian Capital had offered $1.1 billion for Calder’s New York development assets.
Ethan opposed the sale.
Rachel had supported him.
Evelyn wanted it desperately.
Clara said, “Victor gets a transaction bonus.”
“How much?” Ethan asked.
“Twenty-five million.”
Rachel looked at the fake bank statement again.
“So they’re creating an embezzlement case against me.”
Clara began sobbing.
“I was supposed to make sure auditors found documents linking you to the account.”
Rachel held up the old photograph.
“Then why include this?”
Clara’s face changed.
“I didn’t.”
Everyone froze.
“What?”
“I brought the bank statement.”
Clara pointed toward the photograph.
“That picture was already inside the envelope.”
Ethan frowned.
“Who put it there?”
“I don’t know.”
Rachel looked down.
On the back of the photograph someone had written a date.
April 17, 2008.
May you like
And beneath it:
ASK EVELYN WHERE ROBERT’S MONEY WENT.
