Chapter 5 - The Price of Looking Away
Nathan arrived at Victor’s private office at exactly nine.
The suite belonged to a consulting company called Hale Maritime Holdings.
Nathan had never been there.
Victor stood beside a conference table.
“You look terrible.”
“I was followed last night.”
Victor poured coffee.
“You’re becoming paranoid.”
“You knew I was with my father.”
“I assumed.”
“You told me not to bring him.”
“Because Richard Pierce has always been unreliable.”
Nathan placed the old business card on the table.
Victor looked at it.
Something changed behind his eyes.
“Where did you get that?”
“My unreliable father.”
Victor picked it up.
“I haven’t seen one of these in thirty years.”
“You worked at Reed Harbor.”
“I consulted for vendors.”
“You approached my father after Samuel fired him.”
Victor set the card down.
“Richard was angry. Angry people can be useful sources of information.”
“About what?”
“Competitors.”
Nathan stared at him.
“Was Samuel your competitor?”
“No.”
“Then why Reed Harbor?”
Victor’s patience thinned.
“Because successful people gather information.”
Nathan almost smiled.
“That sounds exactly like something Samuel would hate.”
Victor leaned against the table.
“You have seventy-two hours before Reed makes his decision. Do you want to spend them investigating ancient history?”
“I want to know who used my account.”
Victor’s expression softened.
“Good.”
He opened a folder.
Inside were printed financial records.
Nathan immediately recognized his own signature.
“What is this?”
“Expense authorizations.”
“For Blue Meridian?”
“For Northstar Marine Consulting.”
Nathan frowned.
“I don’t know Northstar.”
“You authorized three payments.”
Nathan read the amounts.
$480,000.
$620,000.
$700,000.
Total: $1.8 million.
His stomach dropped.
“I signed these?”
Victor pointed.
“That appears to be your signature.”
Nathan remembered stacks of payment approvals pushed in front of him during closing preparations.
“You told me they were client acquisition expenses.”
“And you signed them.”
“Who owns Northstar?”
Victor looked at him.
“That is a very dangerous question.”
Nathan stared.
Victor moved closer.
“Samuel is going to investigate. Olivia will protect herself. The board will protect Aurelia.”
“And you?”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“By showing me evidence that makes me look guilty?”
“By showing you reality.”
Nathan’s voice dropped.
“Who owns Northstar?”
Victor did not answer.
Nathan pulled out his phone.
“I’ll find out myself.”
Victor smiled.
“Your corporate access is frozen.”
“Corporate registries aren’t.”
Nathan left.
By noon, he had found Northstar’s Rhode Island registration.
The listed manager was a nominee service.
The mailing address belonged to a mailbox center.
But the original incorporation document contained an old address that had later been amended.
Nathan recognized it immediately.
The condominium where Claire Pierce had lived during the first year of their separation.
His ex-wife.
Nathan called her.
She answered on the fourth ring.
“If this is about Ava, she’s at school.”
“It’s not.”
“Then I’m working.”
“Have you ever heard of Northstar Marine Consulting?”
Silence.
Nathan stood.
“Claire?”
“Where did you hear that name?”
His pulse quickened.
“So you do know it.”
Claire exhaled.
“You need to come here.”
Twenty minutes later Nathan entered the small architecture studio Claire operated near the harbor.
She locked the conference-room door.
“What is going on?”
Nathan showed her the incorporation record.
Claire’s face lost color.
“I told Victor never to use that address.”
Nathan stared at her.
“You spoke to Victor?”
“Two years ago.”
“About Northstar?”
Claire closed her eyes.
Nathan stepped closer.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Then explain.”
Claire looked toward the glass wall.
“When we were negotiating the divorce settlement, Victor contacted me.”
Nathan froze.
“Why?”
“He said there were parts of your compensation that were complicated.”
Nathan’s stomach tightened.
“What parts?”
“Deferred commissions.”
Nathan said nothing.
Claire studied him.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Nathan looked away.
During their divorce, he had disclosed salary, bonuses, retirement accounts, brokerage assets.
But he had not fully disclosed several deferred commissions Victor told him were contingent and therefore not yet income.
Approximately two hundred forty thousand dollars.
Claire continued.
“Victor offered me a private payment if I stopped demanding additional compensation records.”
Nathan’s throat tightened.
“How much?”
“Eighty thousand.”
“Did you take it?”
Claire’s eyes filled with anger.
“No.”
“Why was your address on Northstar?”
“Victor sent paperwork there.”
“What paperwork?”
“A consulting agreement. He wanted me to sign something saying I had provided design advisory services to Aurelia.”
Nathan stared at her.
“You’re an architect.”
“That was the excuse.”
“And you refused?”
“Yes.”
“Where is the agreement?”
Claire opened a locked cabinet.
She removed a folder.
Inside was a photocopy of a contract.
NORTHSTAR MARINE CONSULTING.
Nathan felt suddenly unsteady.
Claire pointed toward the signature line.
“Look at the witness.”
Nathan did.
VICTOR HALE.
Claire spoke quietly.
“You didn’t tell me about the deferred money.”
Nathan looked at her.
“I was told it wasn’t distributable.”
“You knew I was asking.”
“I—”
“You lied.”
Nathan had no answer.
Claire’s voice shook.
“You spent years telling me I was suspicious because our marriage had failed. Meanwhile, your mentor was offering me hush money about assets you didn’t disclose.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“That sentence has always been your favorite shield.”
Nathan stared at the contract.
“What happened after you refused?”
“Victor threatened to make the divorce uglier.”
Nathan looked up sharply.
“What?”
“He said powerful men survive accusations because they control documents.”
Nathan remembered the forged consent.
His portal account.
“What else did he say?”
Claire hesitated.
“He said someday you would learn that signatures matter more than truth.”
Nathan’s phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Ava leaving her school twenty minutes earlier.
Beneath it were six words.
STOP DIGGING INTO NORTHSTAR. CLOSE THE DEAL.
May you like
Nathan stared at his daughter’s face.
For the first time, losing his career no longer felt like the worst possible outcome.
