Chapter 2 - WHEN THE TIMER REACHED ZERO
At exactly five o'clock, Megan Price filed three documents.
The first went to Cook County Circuit Court.
The second went to the independent directors of Halcyon Technologies.
The third went to a bank Julian Mercer had spent the previous eight months desperately trying to impress.
Sarah sat across from Megan while the filings transmitted.
No champagne.
No triumphant smile.
No revenge speech.
Sarah wore one of Megan's scarves around her head.
Her hands had started shaking again.
Megan closed her laptop.
“It's done.”
Sarah stared at the screen.
“What happens now?”
“That depends on how many people have been lying to you.”
Sarah looked away.
Megan had been trying to tell her for three weeks.
Something was wrong inside Halcyon.
Sarah had not wanted to believe how wrong.
Three months earlier, an envelope arrived at Sarah and Julian's home.
A routine bank confirmation addressed jointly to both spouses.
Sarah almost threw it into Julian's office.
Then she saw the amount.
Seventy-two million dollars.
A secured facility.
Sarah had never approved it.
Yet attached to the facility was collateral connected to JSM Holdings—the private company through which Sarah and Julian held most of Julian's founder shares.
Sarah owned half of JSM.
Any pledge above ten percent required both signatures.
Her signature appeared on the loan.
Sarah had never signed it.
Megan enlarged the document.
“Still sure?”
Sarah stared at the digital signature.
It looked genuine.
That frightened her more.
“My authentication code was used.”
“Yes.”
“Julian knows my codes.”
“He shouldn't.”
“He's my husband.”
Megan said nothing.
Sarah understood the expression.
Exactly.
Marriage was not authorization for forgery.
Megan opened the blue folder.
Inside were invoices.
Consultancy payments.
Acquisition deposits.
Twelve companies Sarah had never heard of.
One name appeared repeatedly.
CROWN STRATEGIC PARTNERS.
Megan pointed.
“Twenty-three million dollars moved here during the last fourteen months.”
“Why?”
“Officially? Acquisition advisory services.”
“For what acquisition?”
“Project Crown.”
Sarah frowned.
“Julian never mentioned Project Crown.”
“That's because the board hasn't approved it.”
Sarah looked up.
“Then why has Halcyon already spent twenty-three million dollars?”
“That is the question.”
Megan slid one final page toward her.
Crown Strategic Partners' registered manager had been concealed through two Delaware entities.
But the mailing address led somewhere ordinary.
A condominium in River North.
Owned by Victoria Lane.
Sarah stared at the name.
The woman who had shaved her head was not simply sleeping with her husband.
She was receiving millions from his company.
“Does Julian know?”
Megan leaned back.
“That's what the injunction is designed to help us discover.”
Sarah touched the scarf around her head.
The humiliation inside Julian's office suddenly felt connected to something much larger.
“Why today?”
“Because this morning Crown submitted another payment request.”
“How much?”
“Eleven million.”
Sarah went still.
“And the bank loan?”
“Scheduled to fund tomorrow.”
If it funded, the forged collateral documents would become active.
If Halcyon then transferred the eleven million—
Sarah understood.
“Money disappears.”
“Possibly.”
“And my signature becomes part of it.”
“Yes.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
The five minutes had never been about an apology alone.
She had already planned to meet Megan that afternoon.
Victoria's assault merely answered one question Sarah had still been struggling with.
Whether Julian deserved one last opportunity to tell the truth before lawyers took over.
He had laughed.
Megan's phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Her expression sharpened.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Understood.”
She disconnected.
“What?”
“The bank froze tomorrow's draw.”
Sarah exhaled.
“And Halcyon?”
“The independent directors called an emergency meeting.”
“Julian?”
“Hasn't been informed yet.”
Sarah almost pitied him.
Almost.
Then Megan's assistant entered carrying a printed email.
“This just came from Halcyon's internal audit director.”
Megan read it.
Her face changed.
“Sarah.”
“What?”
“Someone inside Halcyon has been trying to delete Project Crown files for the last twenty minutes.”
Sarah's stomach tightened.
“Victoria?”
“We don't know.”
May you like
Megan turned the page.
“But whoever it is logged in using Julian's executive credentials.”
