Chapter 5 - THE COMPANY THAT EXISTED USING VIVIAN’S FACE
VGM Procurement had been constructed carefully.
Not brilliantly.
Carefully.
The formation documents listed a holding company as manager.
The holding company belonged to Gregory.
But the vendor-certification package submitted to Bellwether identified Vivian as the beneficial owner because the company supposedly operated as an affiliate of her design business.
That arrangement achieved two useful things.
First, Gregory did not appear to be directing Bellwether payments into a company he controlled.
Second, VGM could claim minority-woman-owned supplier status in several private contracting programs Bellwether valued.
Not government certification.
Private supplier-diversity programs run by certain developers and institutional landlords.
Vivian stared at Samuel across his office.
“He used me to make himself look independent from his own vendor.”
“Yes.”
“And to make the vendor look like a woman-owned company.”
“Potentially.”
“While he owned it.”
Samuel nodded.
That was fraud-file territory.
Still, the money trail remained incomplete.
VGM Procurement had real expenses.
It paid furniture manufacturers.
Lighting companies.
Freight forwarders.
Stone suppliers.
Approximately $720,000 of the $1.18 million appeared connected to actual Bellwether projects.
The remaining money moved through:
management fees;
consulting fees;
cash reserves;
and transfers to Gregory’s holding company.
“How much reached Gregory?”
“So far, about $214,000.”
Vivian leaned back.
“Over eleven months?”
“Yes.”
“He makes almost three hundred thousand a year at Bellwether.”
“Yes.”
“Why risk everything for two hundred fourteen?”
Samuel looked at Leah.
That was the right question.
Then Tara found an old email in Vivian’s dormant VGM Design inbox.
From Gregory.
Nine months earlier.
SUBJECT: QUICK FORMALITY
Viv—
Need your signature on a vendor acknowledgment when you have a sec. Nothing binding, just confirms you’re okay with Bellwether using your design background in project bios. Will bring it tonight.
G
Vivian remembered.
They had been going to dinner.
Gregory placed one page in front of her while she was putting on earrings.
She signed.
She never got a copy.
Samuel compared her real signature on that form to the disputed VGM documents.
Same source image.
Someone had scanned the page.
Extracted the signature.
Reused it.
Vivian felt physically cold.
“He prepared this.”
Leah said nothing.
“He asked me for a clean signature because he needed one to copy.”
“We can’t prove what he intended when he asked.”
“I know.”
Vivian almost laughed.
“Possibly.”
That night she sat alone at the dining table Gregory had kicked.
The leg had been repaired.
The broken plates were gone.
One faint chip remained in the marble.
She kept touching it.
Not because she liked reminders.
Because she was trying to understand how many moments in their relationship had two meanings.
A password asked for while cooking.
A signature before dinner.
Questions about her old LLC.
Compliments about how useful it was that she understood restaurant interiors.
Gregory had spent years calling Vivian impressive.
She had heard admiration.
Maybe sometimes it had been inventory.
Then Gregory’s younger brother, Ethan, called.
They had never been close.
“I don’t know if I should be doing this.”
Vivian sat straighter.
“Then don’t.”
“I think you need to know something about Gregory’s last company.”
Vivian had almost forgotten there was one.
Before Bellwether, Gregory spent four years at a restaurant-development firm called Mercer Lane Hospitality.
“He left because they downsized,” Vivian said.
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“That’s what he told you?”
Vivian’s stomach tightened.
“What happened?”
“He was fired.”
“Why?”
“Vendor problems.”
There it was.
May you like
Not a new behavior.
A pattern.
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