Chapter 4 - THE PROXY I WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT
I called Ethan from Olivia’s phone.
He answered on the first ring.
“Liv?”
“It’s Claire.”
Silence.
Then:
“Where are you?”
“Answer one question.”
“Okay.”
“Were you planning to give Vivian your new voting shares after we got married?”
He did not answer.
Olivia looked at the floor.
“Ethan.”
“For one year.”
My stomach tightened.
“You signed a proxy?”
“Not yet.”
“But you intended to.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Continuity.”
I laughed.
It sounded ugly in the quiet hotel room.
“Your mother destroys my dress, frames me for assault, and the word you have for her continued control is continuity?”
“The proxy was negotiated months ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It had nothing to do with our marriage.”
“It literally depended on our marriage.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Then use better words.”
He inhaled slowly.
“Mercer Hospitality is refinancing two properties. A chair change during negotiations could trigger lender questions.”
Olivia’s head lifted.
“That is not the whole reason.”
Ethan heard her.
“Liv.”
“No.”
She took the phone from me.
“You don’t get to keep giving Claire sanitized versions.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“The audit.”
A pause.
“Tell her why Mom wanted the proxy during the audit.”
Ethan’s voice changed.
“Claire, I need to talk to you in person.”
“No.”
I took the phone back.
“Talk now.”
“The audit has identified vendor-control issues.”
“I already heard that.”
“Some payments relate to my division.”
There it was.
“How much?”
“We don’t know.”
“Guess.”
“Maybe nine hundred thousand.”
Olivia stared at him through the phone as if he were standing in the room.
“You told me four hundred.”
“That was before Dana’s latest report.”
My pulse thudded in my ears.
“Dana?”
He went quiet.
I understood.
“My company?”
“No.”
“Ethan.”
“Bennett Shield’s automated tools flagged traffic between the hotel network and a vendor platform.”
I gripped the phone.
My cybersecurity firm had been retained six months earlier to test Mercer Hospitality’s payment environment after a card-processing incident.
I had recused myself from the technical work because I was marrying the CEO.
My chief operating officer handled the engagement.
I had seen none of the substantive findings.
That boundary had been deliberate.
Ethan knew.
“Were the suspicious vendors connected to you?”
“Not directly.”
“Then how?”
“One renovation project in Charlotte ran over budget. Some vendor payments were reclassified.”
“By who?”
“My team.”
“Did you know?”
“Not at first.”
“And later?”
Silence.
Olivia whispered, “Oh, Ethan.”
He sounded tired.
“Yes.”
I sat down.
“How long?”
“Three months.”
“And you didn’t tell the board.”
“I told internal finance.”
“Your sister?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“Mom.”
Of course.
Vivian.
Everything went through Vivian.
“What did she do?”
“She said she’d clean it up before the audit.”
“You mean hide it.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Did you stop her?”
“No.”
Another clean answer.
Finally.
My phone buzzed while we were still talking.
Dana.
She had received authorization from outside counsel to preserve bank records tied to vendors already identified in the audit.
One transfer had gone out that morning.
$250,000.
From a Mercer family-office account controlled by Vivian.
Recipient:
SEABRIGHT ADVISORY LLC.
Dana sent the registered address.
I read it aloud.
Olivia went pale.
“That’s Mason’s wife’s company.”
Ethan stopped breathing for a second.
The transfer had cleared at 10:18 a.m.
Four hours before the wedding.
I looked at the timestamp again.
“Ethan.”
“Yes?”
“Your mother paid Mason a quarter of a million dollars this morning.”
“I see that.”
“No. You see a transfer.”
I stood.
“I see the person who controlled the network being paid on the same day the evidence system was disabled.”
Olivia’s phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
“Company counsel.”
She answered.
Listened.
Then turned toward me.
“What?”
I asked.
“They traced Seabright’s prior invoices.”
“How many?”
“Eleven.”
“For what?”
“Security consulting.”
“Mason already works for the company.”
“I know.”
“How much total?”
Olivia swallowed.
“Six hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
My stomach dropped.
May you like
Then she added:
“And every invoice was approved by Ethan’s division.”
