Chapter 3 - THE SILVER SAILBOAT
"That's a lie!" Savannah shrieked, her carefully cultivated elegance shattering. "David is a liar! He's always hated me!"
Charles looked at his mistress, confusion battling with panic. "Why would Eleanor's hospital bracelet be in your car, Savannah? You said you never went to the hospital."
"She didn't go to visit her," Margaret said, flipping open a new page in her folder. "She went to steal Eleanor's identification cards from her purse while David was downstairs getting coffee."
I watched my laptop screen, my heart pounding. David, our twenty-four-year-old son, had suspected Savannah for months, but even I hadn't realized how deep the betrayal went.
The senior banker stood up, his face thunderous. "Charles, you are telling us that you and your mistress conspired to forge your comatose wife's signature using her brother as a notary, to sell off assets you don't even own?"
"No!" Charles shouted, slamming his hand on the table. "I built this empire! That land is useless without my development permits!"
"Actually," Margaret corrected gently, "the permits belong to Whitfield Heritage Holdings. Eleanor's company. Which brings me back to the buyer. Blue Horizon LLC."
Margaret turned to the investors. "Gentlemen, Blue Horizon LLC isn't just a shell company. It's a bankrupt entity drowning in sixty million dollars of offshore debt. Debt accrued by Savannah's father."
Charles whipped his head toward Savannah. "What?"
The reversal was instant. Savannah wasn't just a trophy mistress looking for a wealthy husband. She was a lifeline for her ruined family.
"Charles, don't listen to her!" Savannah panicked, grabbing her designer handbag from the chair. "She's a jealous old woman making up lies!"
In her haste, the handbag slipped from her manicured fingers. It hit the hardwood floor, spilling lipsticks, a compact, and a heavy set of keys.
The room went dead silent.
Attached to Savannah's car keys was a heavy, custom-made silver keychain shaped like a sailboat.
Charles stared at it, the blood rushing from his face. "That... that's the corporate logo for Blue Horizon."
Savannah scrambled to pick it up, but Margaret's foot stepped on the keys.
"Yes, Charles," Margaret said. "You thought you were hiding assets from your wife. But Savannah was stealing them from you."
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Charles looked like a man who had just stepped off a cliff. But the worst was yet to come.
"And Charles," Margaret added, gesturing to the livestream camera. "You might want to say hello to the person who tipped us off about the sailboat."
