Chapter 5 - The Bankruptcy Ledger
Gabriel looked entirely different from the nervous, blushing groom he had been an hour ago. He stood tall, his jaw set, holding the leather-bound ledger like a weapon.
“Move, Gabriel,” Tristan barked. “This doesn't concern you.”
“It concerns my wife, which means it concerns me,” Gabriel said smoothly. He opened the ledger. “When my father told me he was considering doing business with Bennett Enterprises, I asked our forensic accountants to do a quiet audit of your books, Tristan. As a favor to the family.”
Tristan froze. Corinne squeezed his arm, her eyes darting nervously toward the exit.
“You’ve been bankrupt for two years,” Gabriel announced to the silent room. “You’ve been running a Ponzi scheme with your investors’ capital to fund your lifestyle. The loan you took out on Laura’s house? It didn’t go to Geneva.”
Corinne whipped her head around to look at Tristan. “What is he talking about? The Geneva account has four million dollars in it.”
“No, Corinne,” Gabriel said, stepping closer. “The loan money was automatically seized by the IRS at 9:00 AM yesterday morning to cover back taxes and fraud penalties. The Geneva account is empty.”
Corinne dropped Tristan’s hand as if it had caught fire. “You… you lied to me? You told me the transfer cleared!”
“It did clear!” Tristan shouted, panic finally cracking his voice. He looked wildly at Charles. “Sterling, please! If you sign the development contract right now, the advance will cover—”
“I’m not signing anything,” Charles said, stepping up to stand beside me. “In fact, the only reason I came to this wedding was because Gabriel asked me to be here when the house of cards fell. I wanted to see the woman who saved me thirty years ago. I wanted to make sure she was protected.”
Tristan’s chest heaved. He looked at the locked exit doors, then back at Corinne. “Corinne, listen to me, we can still go. I have credit lines—”
“You have nothing!” Corinne shrieked. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a sleek, silver USB drive. She held it up for the entire room to see. “You think I trusted you, Tristan? You think I didn’t keep an insurance policy?”
Tristan lunged for her, but two of Gabriel’s groomsmen stepped forward, shoving him back.
“This drive contains every forged signature, every illegal wire transfer, and every email Tristan sent plotting to defraud his clients,” Corinne said rapidly, looking directly at Charles. “Mr. Sterling, if you grant me immunity from your corporate lawyers, I will hand this over to you right now.”
Before Charles could speak, the heavy mahogany doors of the ballroom swung open with a resounding crack.
May you like
Standing in the threshold was my lawyer, Rebecca Shaw.
And standing right behind her were two uniformed federal agents.
