Chapter 5 - THE SIDE BUSINESS
Pierce Advisory Holdings owned a minority interest in a financial-planning technology startup called ArcVista.
Gavin had invested $480,000.
Charlotte invested $90,000.
The problem was where Gavin’s money came from.
Not from his premarital assets.
Not entirely from salary.
Bank records later showed:
$210,000 from a joint brokerage account,
$95,000 from marital savings,
and the remainder from his personal bonus account during the marriage.
Sabrina had not approved the joint-account transfers.
Gavin had authority to make them.
Authority was not the same as honesty.
He moved the money in several smaller transfers.
Then categorized them in their household spreadsheet as:
tax reserve,
advisory expense,
and capital reallocation.
Sabrina rarely checked.
Gavin managed household finance.
That was convenient.
Now it looked different.
Charlotte did more than sleep with him.
She helped build ArcVista’s client pipeline.
She also believed Gavin would leave Sabrina and make Charlotte his public partner.
He told her:
Sabrina owns almost nothing.
The house is basically mine.
The consulting company is small.
Divorce will be easy.
Charlotte believed him.
Why wouldn’t she?
Gavin worked in wealth management.
He spoke about assets with authority.
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His confidence became her due diligence.
That would cost them both.
