Chapter 7: The Account He Couldn’t Reach
“Stop it,” I said.
Adrienne was already calling the bank.
“Beckett Lane, now.
This is an emergency.”
Julian buttoned his jacket.
“The court restored my authority.
Interfering with that transfer would violate an order.”
I stepped between him and the door.
“You’re not leaving.”
“You no longer control this company.”
Conrad entered with three board members.
“But I do,” he said.
“And you are suspended from Hale Meridian effective immediately.”
Julian held up the court directive.
“You cannot suspend the acting co-trustee.”
“This company is not your trust,” Conrad replied.
“Security will escort you out.”
Adrienne put her call on speaker.
Beckett’s voice came through.
“The funds have left the trust’s primary account.”
Julian smiled at me.
“I warned you.”
My knees weakened, but Delia moved to my side.
“Keep listening,” she whispered.
Beckett continued, “The transfer entered a compliance holding account.
It did not reach Mercer Strategic Consulting.”
Julian’s smile disappeared.
“What did you do?” he demanded.
“I followed federal reporting requirements,” Beckett said.
“I have also provided investigators with every request you submitted under Clara’s name.”
“You helped me enter the records room.”
“Yes.
At the request of the bank’s internal investigation team.”
Adrienne turned toward the security footage on her laptop.
“You knew Julian had copied the key?”
“We suspected an insider was targeting the trust,” Beckett replied.
“The key had a tracking marker.
Julian led us to Sienna and the consulting company.”
Sienna gripped the back of a chair.
“You let us file those papers?”
“We preserved the evidence.”
Julian pointed at her.
“This was Sienna’s plan.
She created every document.”
Sienna stared at him.
“You traced Clara’s signature while I watched.”
“Prove it.”
She picked up her cracked phone.
“The screen is broken, not the cloud backup.”
Reid connected it to his laptop.
Messages began appearing on the conference-room display.
Julian: Make the signature imperfect.
Perfect will look copied.
Sienna: What if Clara checks?
Julian: She won’t.
She’ll be busy discovering us.
I looked at him across the table.
“You arranged your own affair to make me look unstable.”
“It wasn’t an affair.”
Sienna laughed once.
“Tell her about the hotel in Boston.”
Julian’s head snapped toward her.
“You said you loved me,” Sienna continued.
“You said Clara was only the account.”
“And you believed what suited you.”
Conrad pushed a resignation form across the table.
“Sign it.”
Julian tore it in half.
“You think a few messages end this?
The original trust deed contains a clause none of you have seen.”
Adrienne stood.
“What clause?”
“The one Clara’s father added before he became ill.”
“There is no additional clause.”
“There is now.”
Reid checked the evidence bag on the side table.
It was empty.
“The brass key,” he said.
“Julian took it.”
Julian backed toward the elevator.
“If I cannot control the trust, Clara, neither can you.”
The doors closed before Reid reached them.
Conrad turned to the security monitor.
May you like
Julian had not gone to the lobby.
He had taken the elevator to my father’s private records floor.
