Chapter 4 - Barbara's Secret
By noon, the news had reached the press.
WHITMORE FREIGHT CEO SUSPENDED AMID FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION
Then another headline appeared.
$2.8 MILLION COMPANY EXPENSES UNDER REVIEW
Barbara called me thirty-seven times.
I ignored every one.
Then she showed up at my office.
Security stopped her.
She screamed my name across the lobby.
I finally agreed to see her.
She entered my office like she owned it.
“You've destroyed my family.”
“No.”
“You humiliated Evan.”
“He humiliated himself.”
“You planned this.”
“Yes.”
She stared.
“You admit it?”
“I planned to protect the company.”
She slammed her handbag onto my desk.
“You're vindictive.”
I looked at her.
“Your consultancy received $740,000 from Whitmore Freight.”
Her face changed.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“We have the invoices.”
“They were legitimate.”
“For what?”
“Events.”
“Which events?”
She couldn't answer.
I opened another file.
“Evan paid for Kelsey's apartment through your company.”
Barbara became pale.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
I slid the documents toward her.
“Your signature is on the approval forms.”
She stared at them.
Then whispered:
“What do you want?”
“Nothing.”
She looked confused.
“Then why?”
“Because the company doesn't belong to you.”
Her eyes filled with rage.
“You always thought you were better than us.”
“No.”
I stood.
“I thought I was married to a man I could trust.”
Barbara looked away.
Then her expression changed.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“Kelsey knows something.”
I froze.
“What does she know?”
Barbara swallowed.
“She found documents.”
“What documents?”
“I don't know.”
“Barbara.”
She looked at me.
“Evan planned to take control of the trust.”
My blood went cold.
“How?”
“He believed the divorce would force you to liquidate some of your assets.”
“That makes no sense.”
“He had another plan.”
“What plan?”
Barbara shook her head.
“He never told me everything.”
I sat down.
“What else?”
“He had been trying to find the trust documents for months.”
Suddenly, everything made sense.
Evan hadn't simply been cheating.
He had been preparing.
He had assumed that once the divorce was final, I would be financially vulnerable.
He had underestimated the trust.
But there was still something we didn't know.
May you like
What had Kelsey found?
And why was Barbara afraid of her?
