Chapter 3: Midnight
Thomas caught Adrian by the shoulder.
Adrian shoved him away.
Chairs scraped across the floor.
Security moved toward us.
“Back off!”” Adrian shouted.
Nathaniel stepped between Adrian and me.
“Touch her again and this becomes much worse.””
Adrian's breathing was heavy.
For the first time since I'd known him, the polished billionaire disappeared.
He looked desperate.
I held the envelope.
“What happens at midnight?””
“Nothing.””
“Then why did you try to take this?””
“I was protecting you.””
I stared at him.
The absurdity almost made me laugh.
“Ten minutes ago you kissed another woman in front of four hundred people.””
His eyes flickered toward the watching guests.
“That was business.””
“Humiliating your wife was business?””
“You don't understand.””
“Then explain.””
He couldn't.
I tore open the envelope.
Inside was a copy of an agreement I'd signed three years earlier.
The Hawthorne-Vale Strategic Capital Agreement.
I remembered it.
Adrian had brought it home during our third anniversary weekend.
He'd said it simplified my family's investment structure.
I had trusted him.
That memory suddenly made me sick.
Nathaniel pointed to Section Fourteen.
“Read the highlighted paragraph.””
I did.
If our marriage ended under specific conditions, control rights attached to certain Hawthorne shares could temporarily transfer pending arbitration.
I read it again.
Then again.
“This isn't what I signed.””
Nathaniel nodded.
“Correct.””
Adrian spoke quickly.
“Because it's a draft.””
Thomas said, “Stop lying.””
Nathaniel placed another copy beside it.
“This is the original.””
The paragraphs were different.
My signature appeared on both.
But I'd signed only one.
I looked at Adrian.
“You forged my signature?””
“No.””
“Then who did?””
Silence.
Victoria rose slowly.
“Adrian?””
He turned on her.
“Stay out of it.””
Her expression shifted.
She knew something.
I saw it instantly.
“You knew.””
Victoria stiffened.
“I knew nothing.””
“You can't even look at me.””
“Don't accuse me.””
Thomas laughed without humor.
“Still protecting him, Victoria?””
“Shut your mouth.””
Nathaniel pointed to the altered agreement.
“This version was submitted to an offshore holding company eleven months ago.””
I felt the floor tilt beneath me.
“What holding company?””
“Bellweather Holdings.””
Adrian closed his eyes.
Thomas muttered, “There it is.””
“What is Bellweather?””
Nathaniel hesitated.
“An entity controlling several assets that appear to have been transferred from companies connected to your family trust.””
“How much?””
“We're still calculating.””
“How much, Nathaniel?””
“At least forty-three million dollars.””
My throat tightened.
Victoria sank into her chair.
Marcus whispered, “Jesus.””
Adrian stepped closer.
“Evelyn, listen to me.””
“No.””
“You need to understand why I did this.””
“So you admit it?””
His mouth closed.
I stepped toward him.
“You stole from me.””
“I moved capital.””
“Using a forged document.””
“I protected the company.””
“From what?””
He glanced at Thomas.
Thomas answered.
“From Adrian.””
Adrian exploded.
“You don't know anything!””
He knocked a champagne glass from the table.
It shattered.
Security moved closer.
I raised one hand.
“Let him talk.””
Adrian stared at me.
I had never seen hatred and fear occupy someone's face so completely.
“You want the truth?”” he said.
“Yes.””
“Your precious sixty-eight percent was killing this company.””
“How?””
“Because every major decision required your consent.””
“You never asked for my consent.””
“Exactly!””
His voice echoed through the ballroom.
He realized what he'd admitted.
Thomas shook his head.
Adrian lowered his voice.
“You didn't understand the business.””
“So you forged my signature?””
“I did what was necessary.””
There it was.
Not an apology.
A justification.
I nodded slowly.
“And Celeste?””
His eyes moved toward the doors.
She hadn't returned.
“Was sleeping with her necessary too?””
“Evelyn—”
“Was tonight necessary?””
He said nothing.
Nathaniel's phone buzzed.
He read the message.
His expression changed.
“What?””
He turned the screen toward me.
A photograph showed the silver Bentley outside.
The driver's door stood open.
Celeste was gone.
Nathaniel said, “The recovery team found this inside.””
Another photograph appeared.
A black laptop bag.
Thomas frowned.
“Whose is it?””
Nathaniel enlarged the image.
Gold initials were stamped near the handle.
*A.V.*
Adrian's.
He lunged for Nathaniel's phone.
Security seized him.
“Give me that!””
“Why?”” I asked.
“It's company property.””
Nathaniel scrolled.
“There was also a passport.””
Celeste's passport.
“And two airline tickets.””
My chest tightened.
“Where?””
Nathaniel looked at Adrian.
“Zurich.””
Thomas swore under his breath.
The ballroom suddenly seemed very far away.
“You were leaving tonight,” I said.
Adrian stopped struggling.
I understood.
The banquet.
The humiliation.
The public declaration that our marriage was over.
The altered agreement taking effect at midnight.
Then a flight out of the country.
“You weren't divorcing me,” I whispered.
Adrian said nothing.
“You were running.””
Nathaniel's phone rang.
He answered.
“Ross.””
We all watched him.
His face slowly hardened.
“When?””
A pause.
“How much?””
Another pause.
He looked at me.
“Freeze everything. Now.””
He ended the call.
I could barely speak.
“What happened?””
Nathaniel slipped his phone into his pocket.
“At 8:52 tonight, someone initiated a transfer from Bellweather Holdings.””
“How much?””
“Thirty-one million dollars.””
Thomas stepped toward Adrian.
“To where?””
Nathaniel's eyes stayed on my husband.
“A numbered account in Switzerland.””
Adrian suddenly smiled.
Not the confident smile from the stage.
Something darker.
Defeated, but almost relieved.
“You're too late.””
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?””
His smile widened.
“Because the thirty-one million isn't the thing you should be worried about.””
Nathaniel went still.
Thomas whispered, “Adrian…”
I stepped closer.
“What did you sell?””
Adrian looked directly into my eyes.
May you like
And then my phone began ringing.
The caller ID showed the name of the private hospital where my father had died three years earlier.
