Chapter 2 — The Corporate Receipts Exposed A Secret Behind Our Marriage
Chapter 2 — The Corporate Receipts Exposed A Secret Behind Our Marriage
I turned the third receipt over.
For several seconds, I couldn’t understand what I was seeing.
Then I recognized the signature.
My father’s.
I hadn’t seen it in years.
My father had died when I was twenty-four. Since then, I had kept almost nothing from his office except an old watch and a box of documents I had never bothered to organize.
But that signature was unmistakable.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
Rebecca watched me carefully.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Daniel, give me the receipt.”
I didn’t move.
“Why?”
“Because it’s private.”
“You’re the one who said I should listen.”
Her face tightened.
“I didn’t mean this.”
Marcus finally spoke.
“Rebecca, you have no idea what you’re looking at.”
She turned toward him.
“Then explain it.”
Marcus said nothing.
Rebecca pointed toward the receipt in my hand.
“That charge was made using a corporate account.”
Marcus nodded.
“Yes.”
“Your company?”
“Yes.”
“Then why does Daniel’s father’s name appear on the back?”
Marcus looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
I laughed quietly.
“That’s becoming everyone’s favorite answer tonight.”
I looked again.
The handwritten note beneath my father’s signature contained only two words.
Trust nobody.
My stomach tightened.
I looked at Claire.
“Have you seen this before?”
She hesitated.
“No.”
Marcus immediately looked at her.
That tiny movement told me more than her answer.
Rebecca noticed it too.
“You’re lying.”
Claire snapped toward her.
“Excuse me?”
“You’ve seen the receipt.”
“No.”
“You looked at it like you recognized it.”
Claire folded her arms.
“You’re accusing me of something you haven’t even explained.”
Rebecca smiled.
“Fine.”
She pulled out her phone.
“Let’s explain it.”
She opened several photographs.
The first showed a hotel in Chicago.
The second showed Marcus entering through a side entrance.
The third showed Claire walking into the same hotel twenty minutes later.
I stared at the screen.
Claire looked at me.
“Daniel, please listen.”
I raised my hand.
“Don’t.”
Rebecca swiped again.
Another photograph appeared.
Marcus was standing beside a man I recognized.
My former business partner.
Thomas Reed.
I hadn’t seen Thomas in almost three years.
He had left my company after a disagreement over financial reporting.
“What is Thomas doing there?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“That’s what I wanted to know.”
I looked at Marcus.
“When was this?”
“Six months ago.”
“And you told me Thomas had nothing to do with the company anymore.”
“He doesn’t.”
“Then why were you meeting him?”
Marcus looked at Claire.
Claire looked away.
I felt something inside me go cold.
“What did Thomas want?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
Rebecca did.
“Your company.”
I frowned.
“My company?”
“He wanted access to your old corporate accounts.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because someone had been moving money through them.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“That isn’t true.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Then explain the three receipts.”
She placed them side by side.
“Chicago.”
She pointed to the first.
“Cincinnati.”
The second.
“And Columbus.”
The third.
“Three different cities. Three different accounts. Same corporate authorization code.”
I looked closer.
The code was familiar.
It was the authorization code my father had used when he ran the company.
But he had been gone for years.
“Who still has access to this?”
Marcus said nothing.
I looked at Claire.
She whispered,
“Daniel…”
“Who?”
She finally answered.
“Marcus.”
I turned toward him.
He didn’t deny it.
Instead, he said,
“Your father gave me access.”
My chest tightened.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before he died.”
I shook my head.
“My father never trusted you.”
Marcus gave a strange smile.
“You’d be surprised.”
Rebecca suddenly placed another document on the counter.
This one wasn’t a receipt.
It was a bank statement.
The account belonged to my company.
But the destination account was under a name I had never seen.
Hale Family Holdings.
Marcus’s family.
I looked at him.
“You’ve been transferring money.”
“No.”
“It’s your family’s account.”
“I didn’t authorize those transfers.”
“Then who did?”
Marcus looked at Claire.
She immediately shook her head.
“Don’t look at me.”
Rebecca laughed.
“That’s interesting.”
Claire glared at her.
“What?”
“Because your name appears on two of the authorizations.”
My wife went silent.
I looked at the document.
There it was.
Her signature.
Twice.
I felt my stomach drop.
“Claire.”
She didn’t answer.
“Why did you sign these?”
“I didn’t know what they were.”
“You signed corporate documents without knowing?”
“Marcus told me they were routine.”
I looked at Marcus.
“Did you tell her that?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed someone outside the company to approve them.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer.
Rebecca suddenly leaned toward me.
“Because Marcus wasn’t moving the money for himself.”
I looked at her.
“Then who?”
She pulled out one final document.
It was a corporate transfer record.
The recipient name was partially blacked out.
But the last four letters were visible.
…well.
My heart stopped.
Hollowell.
My father’s old holding company.
The one that had supposedly been dissolved after his death.
I stared at the document.
“That company doesn’t exist anymore.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Exactly.”
I looked at Marcus.
“What is this?”
He finally stopped pretending to be calm.
“Daniel, there are things about your father you were never told.”
Claire stepped toward me.
“Please don’t do this here.”
I turned toward her.
“You knew.”
“I knew something was wrong.”
“How long?”
She hesitated.
“About six months.”
I felt my hands tighten.
“Six months?”
She nodded.
“Marcus came to me because he said your father had left something unfinished.”
“What?”
“A financial account.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why were you involved?”
She looked down.
“Because Marcus told me your father had left instructions.”
I stared at her.
“What instructions?”
She swallowed.
“He told me that if anyone ever tried to access the Hollowell account, I was supposed to stop them.”
I looked at the transfer record.
“And you were helping him?”
“Yes.”
“While sleeping with him?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
I laughed bitterly.
“But it did.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
Marcus suddenly stepped away from the bar.
“I think we should leave.”
Rebecca stood.
“No.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Rebecca.”
“You’re not leaving.”
“Move.”
She didn’t.
I stepped between them.
Marcus stared at me.
“You don’t understand what you’re getting involved in.”
I held up the receipt.
“Then explain it.”
He looked toward the restaurant entrance.
For the first time, I saw genuine fear in his eyes.
Not embarrassment.
Not guilt.
Fear.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
He didn’t answer.
It rang again.
Then again.
Finally, he picked up.
“Hello?”
Nobody spoke.
Marcus’s face slowly lost its color.
He lowered the phone.
“What happened?” Rebecca asked.
He looked at me.
“Your father’s account was just accessed.”
I froze.
“My father has been dead for seven years.”
Marcus nodded.
“I know.”
“Then who accessed it?”
He didn’t answer.
Rebecca looked at the three receipts.
Then at me.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to find out.”
My phone suddenly vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
Stop investigating the Hollowell account.
I stared at the screen.
Another message appeared.
Your wife isn’t the person you should be angry with.
Then a final message.
Ask Marcus who was in Room 302.
I slowly raised my eyes.
Marcus was staring at my phone.
And the expression on his face told me one thing.
He already knew exactly who Room 302 belonged to.