Elise stared at the bottle.
“You said you threw it away.”
Sloane’s face was pale.
“I lied.”
Grant laughed once.
A sharp, unbelieving sound.
“This is what we’re doing? Perfume?”
Sloane did not look at him.
“I kept it because I thought it proved he cared about me.”
Elise touched the engraving with one fingertip.
Her name.
Still there.
A strip of adhesive residue covered part of the base where Grant had hidden it.
“You brought this to a finance meeting?” Grant asked.
Teresa looked at him.
“You brought your marriage into company accounts.”
He turned to Elise.
“You think I stole perfume?”
“No.”
“Then what exactly is this?”
“Timing.”
Elise unlocked Sloane’s phone.
The hotel photograph appeared.
Bottle on the table.
Grant beside it.
Timestamp.
Eleven days before the personal guarantee.
Then the wire approval photo.
Grant’s hand.
Sloane’s login.
Grant’s expression changed.
“This is insane.”
Sloane finally looked at him.
“You used my credentials.”
“You approved the wires.”
“Because you told me they were routine.”
“You’re an adult.”
“Yes.”
Her voice shook.
“I was also sleeping with my boss.”
Grant stood.
Teresa did not raise her voice.
“Sit down.”
He sat.
Elise opened the folder.
She walked them through the structure.
Meridian took company funds.
Meridian moved them to Grant’s investment account.
The losses created a cash gap.
Grant opened the credit facility to cover the gap.
Then he asked Elise to personally guarantee the debt.
The affair was not the scheme.
It was simply the reason Sloane had trusted him long enough to help carry it.
Grant looked at Elise.
“You signed.”
“Yes.”
“So don’t stand there pretending you were tricked.”
“I was tricked.”
“You read every page.”
“I did.”
“You knew what the guarantee was.”
“I knew what the document was. You lied about why the company needed it.”
Grant shook his head.
“Business has risk.”
“Risk isn’t the same as moving company cash into your LLC.”
“It was temporary.”
“You lost four hundred eighty-nine thousand dollars.”
“We could have recovered.”
“With whose money?”
Silence.
Elise leaned forward.
“With mine?”
Grant looked away.
That was the answer.
Teresa picked up her phone.
One call.
That was all it took.
“Freeze Grant’s signing authority,” she said when counsel answered. “All company accounts. Effective now.”
Grant stood again.
“You can’t do that.”
Teresa looked almost bored.
“I can.”
“I’m CEO.”
“You are my son. Those are different things.”
He turned toward Elise.
“What do you want? A divorce? Fine. Take the house.”
Elise felt nothing.
That surprised her.
For six months she had imagined this moment.
Anger.
Satisfaction.
Maybe grief.
Instead she noticed that Grant’s left cuff was frayed.
She had bought that shirt.
The thought was so ordinary it nearly broke her.
Sloane pushed her phone toward Elise.
“There’s more.”
Grant’s head snapped toward her.
“Sloane.”
She ignored him.
“I kept the voice messages.”
“What messages?” Elise asked.
Sloane swallowed.
“The ones where he told me what to approve.”
Grant reached for the phone.
Teresa placed one hand on it first.
“Don’t.”
His hand stopped.
Sloane opened the recordings.
The first message began with Grant’s voice.
Calm.
Casual.
Use your login. Keep it under fifty. Elise never sees anything under fifty.
