Chapter 3 - THE MONEY THAT DIDN’T STAY WITH DYLAN
Liam formed the most obvious explanation.
Claire had begun an affair with Dylan months earlier. Andrew knew about it and helped conceal the visits. The $286,000 had paid for a private project that allowed Claire and Dylan to build a life after the marriage.
It was painful, simple, and wrong.
Evelyn warned him not to fill gaps with emotion.
“A transfer to a company associated with Dylan does not tell us where the money ended,” she said.
Liam authorized her to proceed under the financial-dispute provisions of the marital agreement.
The agreement had been signed two years earlier after Claire invested $410,000 in Andrew’s failed restaurant group without telling Liam.
Claire had separate counsel. Both sides exchanged financial disclosures. No one was promised punishment for adultery, and the agreement did not pretend Colorado divorce law would award wealth based on moral virtue.
It did require disclosure of debts and prohibited either spouse from transferring more than $25,000 from joint credit without written notice.
If the marriage ended, Claire would receive a fixed settlement of $2.4 million and retain her separate design business. Undisclosed joint withdrawals could be allocated against her settlement after accounting and court approval.
The agreement did not let Liam confiscate everything because she had embarrassed him in a hot tub.
It did give him a lawful way to trace the $286,000.
Rachel accepted service of the separation petition on Claire’s behalf.
Liam did not announce it in the lobby. He did not remove Claire from the suite or cancel her credit cards.
Temporary arrangements were negotiated through counsel.
Claire returned to Denver while Liam remained at Alder Peak for the security review.
Dylan stayed on paid suspension.
The first bank records arrived under Claire’s authorization through counsel rather than a surprise court seizure.
Six transfers had left the joint home-equity line over five months. Each went to Snowline Performance LLC.
Dylan had formed Snowline three years earlier to receive private coaching and guide fees.
The dates matched weeks when Claire claimed she was visiting friends, attending wellness retreats, or helping her mother.
Liam examined the statements in Evelyn’s temporary office.
“Two hundred eighty-six thousand dollars for ski instruction?”
“No,” Evelyn said.
Snowline retained only $18,200.
Nearly all the remaining money moved within forty-eight hours to Summit Basin Development LLC.
The registered manager was Andrew Vale.
When Evelyn contacted Andrew’s attorney, the first response was a complete denial.
Andrew had never received money from Claire.
Evelyn sent the bank trace.
The second response was narrower.
Andrew knew Snowline had invested in Summit Basin, but he did not know where Snowline obtained its funds.
The project was a proposed twenty-four-room boutique lodge on fifteen acres west of Alder Peak.
The land option had been signed four months earlier—during Claire’s first secret visit.
Liam studied the site map.
The proposed entrance would sit less than three miles from Alder Peak’s western ski access.
“What does Redstone have to do with it?”
“Possibly financing,” Evelyn said. “Possibly nothing. We verify.”
The marital case gave Liam access to information concerning joint debt. It did not automatically grant him every document belonging to Andrew’s company.
Rachel objected to broad discovery requests.
A judge narrowed them to the use of marital funds, ownership interests held for Claire, and any resort data used to support the project.
That ruling cost another week.
It also prevented Liam from using wealth to search every corner of Andrew’s life.
Claire’s first written response admitted investing in Summit Basin.
She described it as an opportunity she intended to disclose once financing was secure.
“You already refused to support Andrew once,” she wrote. “I wanted something that belonged to me.”
She denied stealing guest data or directing Dylan to delete recordings.
She also denied owning any part of the development company.
The next day, Andrew produced Summit Basin’s operating agreement.
On the public pages, Andrew held seventy percent and Snowline held thirty.
A sealed amendment told a different story.
Snowline’s interest was being held for an undisclosed beneficial investor.
The investor’s initials were C.V.
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The signature beneath them matched Claire’s.
The agreement had been signed two months before she first slept in Dylan’s apartment.
