Chapter 3 - The First Betrayal
By morning, the Vance Group's stock had fallen twelve percent.
News outlets reported the canceled wedding.
Rumors spread about the mysterious billionaire behind Consecour Capital.
Some claimed Genevieve was a former royal.
Others claimed she had inherited an oil fortune.
Nobody knew the truth.
And Victoria Vance was desperate to keep it that way.
She called an emergency board meeting.
“We need to control the narrative.”
One director asked:
“What narrative?”
Victoria slammed a folder onto the table.
“That my son is still in control.”
The room remained silent.
Everyone knew he wasn't.
The door opened.
Ethan entered.
Genevieve walked behind him.
Every board member stood.
Victoria's jaw tightened.
“Sit down.”
Nobody listened.
Genevieve looked around.
“Please.”
They sat.
She placed a document on the table.
“Effective immediately, all financial transactions above five million dollars require independent approval.”
Victoria stood.
“You can't do this.”
“I can.”
“You're destroying my family.”
Genevieve looked directly at her.
“Your family destroyed itself.”
Ethan looked at his mother.
“Mom.”
Victoria's eyes filled with rage.
“How can you stand beside her?”
“Because she's saving the company.”
“She humiliated us!”
“She exposed us.”
Victoria stared at him.
“You choose her over me?”
Ethan's expression became exhausted.
“This isn't about choosing.”
“It always is.”
Genevieve interrupted.
“Victoria.”
The older woman looked at her.
“You want to know why I canceled the wedding?”
“Yes.”
“Because I watched you teach Chloe that cruelty was acceptable.”
Victoria scoffed.
“She was a servant.”
“She was a human being.”
Victoria said nothing.
Genevieve continued.
“And I watched Ethan say nothing.”
Ethan lowered his head.
“That failure belongs to him too.”
The room became quiet.
Then Genevieve slid another document across the table.
“Now we discuss the missing twenty-seven million dollars.”
Victoria froze.
Ethan looked at the document.
“Mom?”
Victoria's face hardened.
“I don't know what this is.”
Genevieve pushed forward a bank statement.
“Three transfers.”
Victoria's hands trembled.
“These are fabricated.”
“We verified them.”
“I never approved them.”
“Then someone used your authority.”
Victoria looked toward her assistant.
The assistant immediately shook his head.
“No.”
Genevieve watched her carefully.
Then Ethan noticed something.
A signature.
His mother's signature.
But there was a strange detail.
He had seen that signature thousands of times.
This one was wrong.
“That's not her signature.”
Everyone turned.
Victoria stared at him.
“What?”
Ethan pointed.
“The V in Victoria is too narrow.”
Genevieve smiled faintly.
“Good.”
Victoria looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Then why accuse me?”
“I didn't.”
Genevieve leaned forward.
“I accused the evidence.”
Ethan suddenly realized something.
Someone had forged his mother's signature.
But why?
And who had access?
Then the boardroom doors opened.
A security officer rushed in.
“Mr. Vance.”
“What?”
“We found something in the server room.”
He handed Ethan a tablet.
“Someone accessed the company's financial database at 2:13 a.m.”
Ethan frowned.
“Who?”
The officer swallowed.
“Your mother's security credentials.”
Victoria stood.
“I was asleep.”
Genevieve looked at Ethan.
“Now you understand.”
“This is bigger than the missing money.”
“Yes.”
That afternoon, Ethan confronted Chloe.
She was staying at a hotel after leaving the estate.
“You need to tell me everything.”
Chloe stared at him.
“About what?”
“The shell companies.”
Her expression didn't change.
“I don't know anything.”
“Your family has financial connections to two of them.”
Silence.
Ethan's heart sank.
“Chloe.”
She looked away.
“My father had investments.”
“Did he know about the transfers?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you?”
Chloe finally looked at him.
“You don't understand how the world works.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“Apparently I didn't.”
Chloe's eyes hardened.
“You were going to marry me because your mother told you to.”
“Yes.”
“And now you're blaming me because your billionaire savior embarrassed you?”
“She's not my savior.”
“Then what is she?”
Ethan didn't answer.
Chloe smiled.
“Exactly.”
She reached for her phone.
Then Ethan noticed a message on her screen.
One sentence.
THE SECOND PHASE BEGINS TONIGHT.
His blood ran cold.
“Who sent that?”
Chloe quickly locked her phone.
“No one.”
“Chloe.”
She stepped backward.
“Leave.”
Ethan stared at her.
For the first time, he understood.
The wedding had never been the real plan.
May you like
It had been a distraction.
And someone had been preparing something much bigger.
