Chapter 5 - Vanessa Was More Than the Mistress
The bank investigation moved quickly because the disputed borrowing had not yet funded.
The signatures were reviewed.
Email approvals were traced.
Maya forwarded Claire documents she was legally entitled to receive as an authorized guarantor.
That was when Claire found Vanessa’s name.
Not merely in Derek’s personal messages.
In company records.
Vanessa had been hired eight months earlier as a “business development consultant.”
Her monthly fee was $14,000.
Claire stared at the number.
Vanessa had no construction background.
No licensing.
No client portfolio.
Nothing Claire could find that justified more than $100,000 in annual payments.
Then Maya revealed something worse.
Vanessa’s consulting company had been receiving reimbursements categorized as vendor-acquisition costs.
Another $186,000.
Claire called Maya.
“What did she acquire?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re the accountant.”
“I receive classifications from management.”
“Derek?”
“Mostly.”
Mostly.
Claire heard the hesitation.
“Who else?”
Maya sighed.
“Vanessa.”
Claire slowly sat down.
Derek had given his mistress access to company spending.
That was reckless enough.
But the timing mattered.
The unexplained payments began the same month Halston BuildWorks started missing profit targets.
The company was not collapsing because one client paid late.
Money had been leaving it.
Claire thought of the silver dress.
Ten thousand dollars.
May you like
Vanessa had screamed about it as if Sophie had destroyed something precious.
Now Claire wondered whether Vanessa had even paid for it herself.
