Chapter 5: The System
Petra's contact was a woman named Grace Ellery.
She called me the following morning at eight sharp, introduced herself in two sentences, and asked me to send her everything I had.
I sent Dani's documents, my own financial records, and a timeline I'd spent the previous night building — every payment, every crisis, every tearful conversation where Weston had told me he was trying, that the company was almost there, that I was the only person who believed in him.
Reading it back as a document was different from living it.
As a document, it had a shape.
Grace called me back that afternoon.
"I've seen this before," she said.
"Not this exact situation, but the structure.
You want me to look at his full financial picture?"
"Yes.
And I want to know if there are other women."
A brief pause.
"That's a separate line of inquiry.
It takes longer."
"How long?"
"A week.
Maybe less if the pattern is clear."
"Start both."
Three days later, Grace sent me a preliminary report.
I read it at my office desk with the door closed.
Weston's startup had not generated meaningful revenue in thirty-one months.
It had, however, maintained the appearance of activity — a functioning website, occasional press mentions, a small team of two contractors paid irregularly.
The company's registered address was Corinne's house.
Corinne was listed as the company's financial officer.
I read that line twice.
I called Grace immediately.
"Corinne is on the company filings?"
"Has been since the beginning," Grace said.
"She's not a passive name on a document.
She has signing authority.
She approved every transfer in and out of the business account."
"So she knew where the money was going."
"She had full visibility.
Whether she directed it or simply allowed it, I can't say yet.
But she wasn't in the dark."
I thought about Corinne's face when she'd shoved me against the wall.
The smile.
*A pregnant woman like you should be grateful any respectable man still wants you.* She hadn't been out of control in that moment.
She'd been certain.
She'd done this before, or something close to it, and she knew how it ended.
"What about other women?" I asked.
"I found two," Grace said.
"Before Dani.
One in 2019, one in 2020.
Both followed the same pattern — a relationship that began within months of a financial crisis at the startup, both women with independent income or savings, both of whom made transfers to Weston personally or to the company account."
"How much?"
"Combined, roughly sixty thousand.
Smaller amounts than Dani.
He was still refining the approach."
My office was very quiet.
"Ava," Grace said.
"This is a pattern that goes back at least five years.
You're not the first.
You're the most significant financially, and you're the first who became pregnant."
"Does he know I've been looking into him?"
"There's no indication of that.
He's been calling you, according to what you've told me.
That's consistent with someone who thinks the situation is still manageable."
"Good." I leaned back in my chair.
"I need one more thing.
I need to know if any of this rises to the level of fraud."
Grace was quiet for a moment.
"I'd recommend you speak to a solicitor before we go further.
What I can tell you is that the pattern of obtaining money through false representation — telling Dani and the others the money was for the business when it wasn't — that has a name in law."
"Find me everything you can.
Every transfer.
Every name.
Every date."
"I'll have the full report by Friday."
I thanked her and ended the call.
Then I sat for a moment with my hands flat on the desk.
Weston had texted me twice that morning.
The first said he'd booked a table at the restaurant where we'd had our first date.
The second said he'd spoken to his mother and she wanted to apologize.
I hadn't responded to either.
I opened my contacts and found the number for my solicitor.
It rang twice.
"Ava," she said.
"It's been a while.
What do you need?"
May you like
"I need to know what my options are," I said.
"And I need to know them before Friday."
