Chapter 6 - Michael’s Signature
The account was not technically Michael’s personal account.
It belonged to Davenport Strategic Ventures, an investment subsidiary he had created six years earlier.
But Michael controlled it.
And nearly three million dollars had moved through it.
“I didn’t authorize these transfers.”
Naomi rotated her laptop.
“You authenticated them.”
Michael stared.
Biometric approvals.
Two-factor confirmations.
His credentials.
His digital signature.
Caroline entered the conference room and read the records.
“This is catastrophic.”
“I didn’t do it.”
“That is exactly what every executive says before federal investigators arrive.”
Michael glared at her.
“You think I stole from my own company?”
“I think your controls were nonexistent.”
That hurt because it was true.
Grant had handled contracts.
Michael had focused on deals.
Laura had warned him that too much authority had accumulated around Grant.
Michael had accused her of distrusting everyone.
Now he saw the architecture of his own failure.
Grant had not needed Michael to be corrupt.
He only needed him to be careless.
Naomi enlarged the timestamps.
“Most approvals occurred when you were traveling.”
Michael checked his calendar.
Chicago.
New York.
Hong Kong.
One approval occurred at 3:14 a.m. California time while he was asleep in London.
“My phone stayed with Grant during that trip.”
Caroline frowned.
“Why?”
“My battery died before a presentation. He had my backup device.”
Naomi looked at him.
“Did he know your passcode?”
Michael said nothing.
Caroline swore.
Outside counsel recommended immediate disclosure to lenders and insurers.
The special committee placed Michael on temporary administrative leave as CEO.
Caroline delivered the decision herself.
“I voted for it.”
He stared at his sister.
“I assumed you would.”
“I’m trying to save the company.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
Maya’s words returned.
Stop saying you know. Start doing better.
Michael stood.
“Then save it.”
Caroline blinked.
“I won’t fight the leave.”
“That might be the first intelligent thing you’ve done this week.”
He almost laughed.
Instead he went home.
The villa felt different without Vanessa.
Not safer.
Exposed.
Detective Ortiz was waiting.
“We found Eric Sloan.”
Michael’s attention sharpened.
“Where?”
“Arizona.”
“Why did he leave?”
“He says Grant paid him a hundred and fifty thousand dollars under a separation agreement.”
“For what?”
“That’s what we’re going to ask.”
Meanwhile, Vanessa’s lawyers filed papers seeking an emergency order preventing Michael or Davenport Coastal from destroying corporate records connected to her.
Her public explanation was astonishing.
She claimed Laura had been responsible for the suspicious transfers and Vanessa was now being scapegoated because she knew too much.
“She’s accusing Laura of theft again,” Michael said.
His attorney, Rachel Kim, nodded.
“She’s building reasonable doubt in public before anyone charges her with financial crimes.”
Michael’s phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
The message contained one photograph.
Sophie leaving school two weeks earlier.
Someone had taken it from across the street.
Below the image:
STOP DIGGING INTO LAURA.
Michael’s blood turned cold.
He called Ortiz.
Within fifteen minutes, deputies were dispatched.
Sophie’s school increased security.
Maya sat with Sophie in the library while Michael paced.
“You’re frightening her,” Maya said quietly.
“I’m trying not to.”
“Then sit down.”
He did.
Sophie watched him.
“Are bad people coming?”
Michael chose his words carefully.
“Someone wants me to stop asking questions.”
“About Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to stop?”
He looked at his daughter.
“No.”
“Good.”
Maya squeezed Sophie’s shoulder.
Michael remembered the letter Laura had left Sophie in Box 713.
Investigators had copied it and released the original to him because it contained no obvious evidentiary value.
He had not opened it.
It was addressed to Sophie.
He handed it to her.
“Mom wrote this.”
Sophie stared.
“When?”
“Before she disappeared.”
Her fingers trembled.
“Read it to me.”
Michael opened the envelope.
Laura’s words were simple.
“My beautiful Sophie, if I am not there when you read this, remember three things. You are loved. You are not responsible for grown-ups’ choices. And when someone tells you to ignore what you know is true, listen to the quiet part of you that refuses.”
Sophie leaned into him.
Michael stopped reading.
At the bottom Laura had added one final sentence.
“Keep the little key safe until Dad is ready to see.”
Michael stared.
Laura had intentionally hidden the sunroom key in the music box.
She had trusted Sophie to protect it.
Not him.
A knock sounded at the door.
Detective Ortiz entered carrying a folder.
“We interviewed Eric Sloan.”
Michael stood.
“What did he say?”
Ortiz’s expression was grim.
“He says Laura confronted Grant the night before she disappeared.”
Michael waited.
“And?”
“He says Grant threatened her.”
“With what?”
Ortiz opened the folder.
“With taking Sophie away from her.”
Michael’s chest tightened.
But Ortiz was not finished.
“Eric also says Laura discovered something worse than embezzlement.”
“What?”
“Grant and Vanessa weren’t planning to steal part of Davenport Coastal.”
May you like
She placed a corporate chart on the table.
“They were planning to take control of it.”
