Chapter 6 - THE CHAIR SHE TOOK BACK
Victor stopped when he saw Emma sitting at the head of the table.
Lenora noticed too.
Neither commented.
Rachel sat beside Emma with a legal pad. Victor’s attorney took the opposite side. I remained near the kitchen doorway, present as Emma’s mother rather than as a representative of Northstar or Vale Capital.
The two security officers waited outside.
Victor looked thinner than he had two days earlier. Without his company phone, tailored jacket, and polished office manner, he seemed less powerful, though not less dangerous.
“You brought an audience,” he said.
Emma folded her hands.
“I brought counsel.”
“I’m your husband.”
“You’re also the person whose lawyer accused me of stealing from your employer.”
Lenora pulled out a chair.
“This could have been handled privately if Margaret hadn’t turned one bad afternoon into a corporate spectacle.”
Emma looked at her.
“You told him to put the invoices in my name.”
Lenora’s hand remained on the chair back.
Victor’s attorney interrupted. “We’re not here to litigate disputed communications.”
Rachel placed the printed email on the table.
“We’re here because your client requested the meeting. He may speak, or we may leave.”
Victor glanced at the email and then at his mother.
“You said that account was safe.”
Lenora’s mouth tightened.
“I said Margaret wouldn’t sacrifice her reputation for a daughter who signed fraudulent invoices.”
The bluntness of the statement seemed to surprise even Victor.
Emma did not raise her voice.
“You wanted my mother to abandon me.”
“I expected her to behave rationally.”
“No,” I said. “You expected me to behave predictably.”
Lenora turned toward me.
“You built your entire life by protecting the company first.”
She was not entirely wrong.
Victor stood and walked to the window. The same narrow section of curtain remained open.
“I was going to repay it,” he said.
Rachel asked, “With what?”
“My bonus. Stock. The promotion.”
“You were never guaranteed the promotion,” Emma said.
“I would have gotten it if you hadn’t panicked.”
Emma’s eyes stayed on him.
“You made me kneel on the floor.”
“You refused to fix what you caused.”
“I redirected one payment.”
“You trapped all of us.”
“That payment was the only reason anyone looked closely enough to find the others.”
Victor turned.
His anger arrived before his words, but this time Emma did not shrink from it.
“You liked the house,” he said. “You liked the vacations. You liked telling people I was a director at Northstar.”
“I liked the man I thought I married.”
“I was trying to hold everything together.”
“For your mother.”
“For us.”
Lenora let out a sharp breath.
Victor looked at her.
The movement was small, but it answered Emma’s question.
He had not committed fraud to protect his marriage. He had protected the marriage only when it helped preserve the identity Lenora demanded from him.
Emma removed her wedding ring and set it beside the printed email.
“I approved the last invoice on purpose,” she said. “I redirected the payment, and tomorrow I’m telling Northstar exactly what I did.”
Victor’s attorney leaned toward him, whispering urgently.
Victor ignored him.
“They’ll charge you too.”
“Maybe.”
“You’ll lose everything.”
Emma looked around the kitchen.
“I already lost what I was trying to save.”
Lenora finally sat down.
For the first time, she appeared frightened.
She asked Emma whether the investigators had seen the emails from her computer.
“Not yet,” Emma said.
Lenora’s shoulders loosened.
Emma continued.
“They’ll receive them with my statement tomorrow.”
Victor stared at his mother. Lenora stared at the email. His attorney closed his folder and advised both of them to stop speaking.
Emma stood.
The meeting was over.
As Victor reached the doorway, he looked back at her.
“I never thought you’d actually do it.”
May you like
Emma slid the ring across the table toward him.
“That was the only part of me you understood.”
