CHAPTER 4: THE HIDDEN TRANSFER
My family trust owned seventy-eight percent of the parent company.
Connor owned none of it personally.
Six years earlier, the trust had granted him managerial authority and a generous profit-sharing agreement. He could run the company, collect bonuses, and represent himself publicly as its founder.
But he could not sell controlling shares.
He could not mortgage trust assets.
And he could be removed for fraud, misconduct, or breach of fiduciary duty.
Connor had apparently forgotten those details.
Or he believed I had.
Parker brought in a forensic-accounting team.
Within forty-eight hours, they identified fourteen transfers from the company’s operating accounts to a consulting business called Blue Crest Strategies.
The company had no employees.
No physical office.
No legitimate clients.
Its registration documents led to a private mailbox in Delaware.
The transfers totaled $4.8 million.
Every payment had been approved by Evan.
Most had been authorized electronically using Connor’s executive credentials.
One payment had purchased a luxury condominium in Alyssa’s name.
Another had paid for the Grand Bellamy wedding.
Connor was financing his new life with money stolen from the company my family owned.
But the most important discovery was not a payment.
It was a draft acquisition agreement.
Connor intended to announce the company’s sale during his wedding reception.
The agreement falsely stated that he personally controlled the voting shares.
He planned to sign the final documents in front of investors immediately after marrying Alyssa.
“They’re using the wedding to make the sale look legitimate,” Parker said.
“Can we stop it?”
“Yes. But not yet.”
He turned his laptop toward me.
“We let them believe the transaction is proceeding. That gives us time to identify everyone involved.”
The forensic team traced the anonymous photograph to a private security contractor hired by Evan.
Why would Evan’s own contractor photograph him kissing Alyssa?
The answer arrived later that evening.
The contractor had not been hired to follow Evan.
He had been hired to follow me.
The photograph had been captured accidentally while the contractor waited near Connor’s vehicle.
Evan had been monitoring my movements for at least four months.
He knew my medical appointments.
He knew when Parker visited.
He knew where Brinley and I were living.
Then the accountant opened one final file.
May you like
Blue Crest Strategies had made monthly payments to a senior employee at the fertility clinic.
The first payment had been made two days before someone tried to destroy Brinley’s embryo records.
