Chapter 6 - The Company Behind the Marriage
Northstar exercised its emergency investor rights the following week.
Not because I wanted revenge.
Because Vance Meridian had nearly two thousand employees, dozens of active customers, port contracts, and financial obligations that could not simply freeze because its CEO was in jail.
The board appointed Marcus interim CEO.
Outside forensic accountants went in.
What they found made the affair look almost small.
Blue Arc Freight Consulting had received more than twelve million dollars for “routing optimization,” “port liaison services,” and “risk advisory.”
It had no employees.
Its registered manager was Victoria’s brother, Nathan Hayes.
Victoria claimed she didn’t know.
At first, I didn’t believe her.
Then investigators discovered Nathan had introduced Julian to the shell company before Victoria and Julian’s affair began.
The money flowed through Blue Arc into three more entities.
Some paid Julian personally.
Some bought property.
Some covered debts.
And some went toward something far more dangerous.
Vance Meridian had been falsifying customs classifications on high-value cargo for select clients.
Not weapons.
Not movie-style contraband.
Something more realistic and still serious: restricted electronics, sanctioned industrial components, and shipments deliberately misdeclared to avoid duties and export restrictions.
The scheme boosted margins and attracted customers who wanted “flexible routing.”
Julian had been building company growth partly on fraud.
And Northstar’s scheduled audit threatened to uncover it.
That explained his desperation.
But Detective Ortiz still had one question.
“If this is about a financial audit, why risk such a theatrical killing?”
I knew the answer before she finished.
Because Julian needed an accident.
Not a disappearance.
Not an obvious murder.
An accident witnessed by executives, investors, and cameras.
A pregnant wife publicly pressured into a reckless jet-ski stunt.
A tragic outcome.
A CEO grieving in front of his company.
A corporate review postponed while everyone mourned.
He needed the story to exist before the death.
And that explained the filming.
The humiliation.
The public argument.
The staged reluctance.
Clue number three.
May you like
Julian had not merely arranged to harm me.
He had produced the first half of the obituary in advance.
