Chapter 4 - A PAYMENT FOR A LIE
Eliza had not undergone any treatment that cost millions.
Her pregnancy visits had been ordinary, and Grant had once complained about the price of prenatal vitamins.
Naomi refused to speculate from a single ledger entry.
"We need the underlying bank records," she said.
Wade looked sick with anger, but he asked Eliza what she wanted done.
"Find out where it went," she answered.
At dawn, Peter Lang received a call from the independent investigator retained by Aster Vale's audit committee.
He had competed with Grant for managing director, which made him an obvious person to question and an easy target for accusations of envy.
"I won't make claims I can't prove," Peter said.
He forwarded a calendar invitation for a transaction-review meeting Grant had canceled without explanation.
He also provided a draft investment memorandum bearing numbers he had never approved.
Meanwhile Grant sat in his study trying to open a password-protected spreadsheet from his home laptop.
The access restriction was already active.
He called a former analyst, told her he needed a favor, and asked her to send the latest acquisition files to his private email.
"I can't do that," she said.
"I hired you."
"And the company pays me to protect its records."
She ended the call and reported it to compliance.
Grant flung a glass into the fireplace.
For years, fear had made people move faster for him.
Now every threat created another written record.
At the hospital, Eliza asked for a confidential conversation with a social worker and a domestic violence advocate.
Wade waited outside with Owen, resisting the urge to demand what they discussed.
Eliza described the account restrictions, the insults, the frightening silences after Grant drank, and the way he corrected her memories until she doubted them.
She remembered telling herself that none of it counted because he had never hit her before.
The advocate listened without trying to tell her which feeling to have.
They discussed immediate safety, documentation, medical follow-up, and legal options.
When Eliza emerged, she was pale but steady.
She asked Naomi for a copy of every bank record under her name.
The request seemed simple until Naomi opened the second page of a banking authorization.
Eliza's name appeared on a consent form dated while she was in labor with Owen.
The signature looked close to hers.
Too close.
"I never signed this," Eliza said.
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And the document had allowed Grant to move money from an account she had never known existed.
