Chapter 10 - The Price of Not Asking
Julian spent the next morning with forensic accountants.
By noon, he stopped trying to find a version of his history that felt innocent.
His first film had required an emergency eight-million-dollar financing package after two investors withdrew.
He remembered Evelyn finding the money.
He remembered hugging her in the old executive dining room.
He remembered asking where it came from.
Private assets, she had said.
Nothing you need to worry about.
He had accepted the answer because he wanted the film.
That was the part he could no longer escape.
Not knowing had benefited him.
Again and again.
Mara came to the studio after Ivy’s therapy appointment.
It was the first time they had used the word therapy.
Not because Ivy was “troubled,” as Evelyn’s drafted statement claimed, but because a child who had been publicly framed by her grandmother and disbelieved by her father deserved a neutral adult who could help her understand what happened.
Julian asked how it went.
“She drew a volcano.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means she drew a volcano.”
He almost smiled.
Mara did not.
“What did the accountants find?”
Julian showed her the preliminary tracing.
Between 2013 and 2024, Juniper Holdings had received at least $11.4 million connected to private sales of heritage artifacts, questionable insurance recoveries, and undocumented transfers.
Some money stabilized Hartwell Studios.
Some financed Julian’s first film.
Some covered Evelyn’s personal real-estate debt.
Some was still missing.
Mara read in silence.
“Does the board know?”
“Yes.”
“What happens now?”
“I offered to step aside as chief executive during the investigation.”
Her eyes lifted.
“And?”
“They accepted.”
That surprised her.
“Immediately?”
“I insisted.”
Mara set the report down.
“Why?”
“Because every meeting becomes about whether I’m protecting myself.”
“Are you?”
“No.”
He paused.
“I don’t think so.”
It was the first honest answer she had heard from him that allowed doubt.
Julian continued.
“I’ve spent my life believing that if Mother handled something, asking too many questions was disloyal.”
“And anyone who questioned her became dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“Like my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Like Ivy.”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
Mara looked through the office windows at the studio lot.
“You know the hardest part?”
“What?”
“If Camera Four hadn’t caught her, you would have made Ivy apologize.”
Julian did not speak.
“You might have carried that little girl home believing she stole a diamond.”
“I know.”
“You would have made her doubt herself.”
“I know.”
“And Evelyn knew you would.”
That struck him harder.
Mara saw it happen.
The planting had required more than an available backpack.
It required confidence in Julian.
Evelyn had planned around his obedience.
Julian looked sick.
“She knew I’d choose her.”
“Yes.”
His phone rang.
Daniel.
Julian put it on speaker.
“The insurer’s legal team found something. You both need to see it.”
Twenty minutes later, they met Leah in the conference room.
She had obtained archived emails through Juniper’s former accounting provider.
One message was from Evelyn to Martin Estes.
Dated the morning after the Heritage Annex fire.
The replica was destroyed as planned. Submit Orchid in full claim. LE paperwork is already handled.
Mara whispered, “LE.”
“Lillian Ellison,” Leah said. “Likely.”
Another email followed.
Need JH approval on transfer after carrier pays. He won’t ask if you call it operating preservation.
Julian stared at the words.
He won’t ask.
Evelyn had written it with absolute certainty.
Not He won’t understand.
He won’t ask.
Mara said nothing.
She didn’t have to.
Leah continued.
“The good news, if we can call it that, is this helps establish that Julian may not have known the underlying claim was fraudulent.”
“The bad news?” Julian asked.
“You signed the transfer.”
“I know.”
“And regulators may ask why a studio executive moved millions from a charitable preservation foundation into company operations without independent review.”
“I’ll answer.”
Leah studied him.
“Even if the answer is that you didn’t want to know?”
Julian looked at Mara.
Then back at Leah.
“Yes.”
Daniel entered carrying a new document.
“Evelyn’s counsel just sent this.”
It was an affidavit.
Signed by Lillian Ellison.
In it, Lillian supposedly admitted removing heritage pieces for private sale and claimed Evelyn had discovered the scheme only after her termination.
Mara read the signature.
For one terrifying second, it looked perfect.
Julian whispered, “Could it be real?”
Mara stared at him.
He immediately regretted asking.
Then she noticed the date.
The affidavit was supposedly signed eleven years ago.
Three months after Lillian left the studio.
Mara looked at the notary seal.
Something about it bothered her.
She called Nora.
Nora listened.
Then she said, “Mara, your mother was in chemotherapy that month.”
“So?”
“She wasn’t in California.”
“Where was she?”
“With me.”
Nora’s voice hardened.
“In Oregon.”
Mara looked at the California notary acknowledgment.
Evelyn had produced a confession.
But she may also have produced another forgery.
May you like
And this time she had delivered it directly to investigators.
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