Chapter 3 - Sabrina Was Never the Affair
The room fell silent.
Adrien stared at Elena as if he had never truly seen her before.
"What do you mean she was placed there?"
Elena looked at Sabrina's corporate records.
"She was hired three years ago by a consulting company owned indirectly by your uncle."
Victor slammed his hand against the table.
"That's ridiculous."
Elena turned.
"Then explain the payments."
She clicked the screen.
A chain of transactions appeared.
Victor's shell company.
A consulting firm.
Sabrina.
Private expenses.
Adrien's face changed.
He remembered how Sabrina had first entered his orbit.
She had been working on the acquisition of a European shipping company.
Beautiful.
Confident.
Smart.
She had understood the business immediately.
She had admired him.
At first, he had only spoken to her about work.
Then drinks became dinners.
Dinners became hotel rooms.
And eventually, he had built a second life around a woman he told himself didn't matter.
But if Elena's evidence was real, none of it had been accidental.
Victor had engineered the connection.
"For what purpose?"
Elena answered.
"To distract you."
"From what?"
"From the company."
Adrien looked at Marcus.
"Check the acquisition records."
Marcus opened his laptop.
Within minutes, his expression changed.
"Sir."
"What?"
"During the period your relationship with Sabrina intensified, Victor acquired a series of controlling interests in three subsidiaries."
Adrien's jaw tightened.
"While I was distracted."
Elena nodded.
"Exactly."
Victor rose.
"This is speculation."
"No."
Elena passed a document to the attorneys.
"This is a direct transfer approval bearing your signature."
Victor looked at it.
His face changed.
Adrien saw the fear.
For the first time in his life, he saw fear on his uncle's face.
Then the conference room doors opened.
Sabrina walked in.
She looked exhausted.
Her hair was damp from the rain.
She wasn't wearing makeup.
She held a thick envelope.
Adrien stood.
"What are you doing here?"
Sabrina looked at him.
"I owe you the truth."
Elena watched silently.
Sabrina approached the table.
"I did lie to you."
Adrien said nothing.
"I knew Victor wanted me close to you."
Victor shouted.
"Don't listen to her."
Sabrina ignored him.
"But I didn't know why."
She opened the envelope.
"Until three weeks ago."
Inside were photographs.
Victor meeting an offshore banker.
Victor meeting a private investigator.
Victor speaking with several executives.
And one photograph that made Adrien go cold.
His father.
Victor.
And Sabrina's mother.
Standing together twenty years earlier.
Adrien whispered, "My father knew your family?"
Sabrina nodded.
"My mother worked for him."
Elena looked at Adrien.
"She wasn't just an employee."
Sabrina swallowed.
"She was your father's financial analyst."
Adrien stared.
"Then why did she disappear?"
"Because she discovered the offshore accounts."
Victor said, "Enough."
A security officer approached.
Victor looked around.
"What are you doing?"
The officer stopped.
Elena said calmly:
"You're under internal suspension pending investigation."
Victor laughed.
"You think you can remove me?"
Adrien looked at him.
"I can."
Victor stared.
"You'd destroy the family."
Adrien's voice became cold.
"You've been destroying it for years."
Victor looked at Elena.
"This is her doing."
Adrien didn't answer.
Elena closed the file.
"It was yours."
Victor was escorted out.
The board remained silent.
For the next six hours, Adrien learned exactly how deep the corruption went.
Victor had redirected millions through shell companies.
He had manipulated contracts.
He had secretly taken stakes in competitors.
He had arranged for internal rivals to be removed.
And most painfully, he had used Sabrina to keep Adrien emotionally compromised.
But there was another revelation.
The money from those shell companies hadn't simply gone into Victor's pocket.
It had been used to fund an unknown overseas account.
Elena found the account owner.
Her expression changed.
"Adrien."
"What?"
"This account was created under your name."
Adrien stared.
"That's impossible."
"It was created twelve years ago."
"I didn't know."
"Neither did I."
They traced the account.
The beneficiary was a nonprofit foundation.
A foundation Adrien's father had created.
Adrien stared at Elena.
"Why would my father create an account in my name without telling me?"
Elena looked at the final document.
"Because he knew someone would eventually come after you."
Adrien's eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Elena didn't answer.
She clicked the final file.
A name appeared.
The Vale family wasn't the only organization with access to the money.
Another corporation had been receiving payments for years.
A corporation owned by a man named Charles Rourke.
Adrien knew him.
Every powerful executive in the city knew him.
Charles Rourke was the man who had once tried to buy Vale Meridian.
He had failed.
Then he had spent years trying to destroy it.
Adrien stood.
"How much?"
Elena looked at the account.
"Two hundred and forty million."
Adrien stared.
"Where did it go?"
Elena turned the screen.
It had been transferred three days earlier.
To a single account.
In Sabrina's name.
Sabrina looked horrified.
"I never touched that money."
"I believe you."
Adrien looked at Elena.
She nodded.
"The transfers are automated."
"Then someone is still controlling the account."
"Yes."
"Who?"
Elena opened the last hidden record.
There was a signature.
Adrien's father's.
But the signature had been made after his death.
Adrien whispered:
"Someone has been impersonating my father."
Marcus stepped forward.
"And using the foundation to fund something."
Elena looked at Adrien.
"Not something."
"What?"
"A contingency plan."
"For what?"
Elena took a breath.
"To protect Vale Meridian if someone inside the family tried to destroy it."
Adrien stared at her.
"That means my father expected Victor."
"Yes."
"Then why marry me?"
Elena's expression softened.
"Because your father believed you were the only Vale who could break the cycle."
Adrien looked down.
"But I became exactly what he feared."
Elena shook her head.
"No."
"I cheated on you."
"Yes."
"I lied."
"Yes."
"I let another woman become more important than my wife."
"Yes."
He looked at her.
"Then how can you still stand here?"
Elena's eyes glistened.
"Because you made terrible choices."
She touched the file.
"But you're finally looking at them."
Sabrina approached Elena.
"I don't expect forgiveness."
Elena looked at her.
"I don't owe you forgiveness."
Sabrina nodded.
"I know."
"But I don't hate you."
Sabrina's eyes filled with tears.
"Thank you."
Elena turned toward Adrien.
"You and I are not finished."
His heart jumped.
"Does that mean—"
"It means there are still questions."
She walked past him.
Adrien followed.
"What questions?"
She stopped at the elevator.
"The biggest one."
"What?"
"Why did Victor need you distracted?"
Adrien stared.
Elena pressed the elevator button.
"Because whatever he was protecting is bigger than Vale Meridian."
The elevator doors opened.
May you like
Before entering, she looked back.
"And I think your father already knew what it was."
