The Red Gown

PART 3 — THE WOMAN BEHIND THE MONEY

The following morning, I arrived at Hayes Meridian Group before nine.

I wore a tailored black suit, simple diamond earrings, and the same red lipstick I had worn to the gala.

I wasn’t there as Ethan’s wife.

I was there as Richard Hayes’s daughter.

In the lobby, employees whispered as I passed.

Some looked surprised. Others offered sympathetic smiles.

At the elevator, a young receptionist hurried toward me.

“Mrs. Hayes?”

I turned.

“There’s someone waiting for you upstairs.”

“Who?”

She lowered her voice.

“Miss Cole. She says it’s urgent.”

I exchanged a glance with Helen, who had accompanied me.

Vanessa was waiting outside the conference room.

Without her expensive evening gown and confident smile, she looked considerably less intimidating.

“Claire,” she said. “We need to talk privately.”

“I don’t think we have anything to discuss.”

“Please. It’s about Ethan.”

Helen stepped forward.

“Anything you wish to say can be said in front of legal counsel.”

Vanessa glanced at her, then reluctantly nodded.

Inside the conference room, she sat down and placed a small envelope on the table.

“I didn’t know about the forged signature,” she began.

I stared at her.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I know how it sounds.”

“You were sleeping with my husband and receiving money from a company account under your name. What exactly should I believe?”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“I thought Ethan was transferring money from his own investment account.”

Helen opened the envelope.

Inside were several printed emails and copies of bank instructions.

One message was particularly disturbing.

It was from Ethan, dated six months earlier.

Once Claire signs the authorization, everything will be secure. Her father’s trust won’t question the transfer.

I felt as though someone had punched me.

“I never signed anything,” I whispered.

Vanessa looked down.

“He told me you had agreed.”

Helen examined the email carefully.

“Why are you bringing this to us now?”

Vanessa hesitated.

“Because Ethan promised to marry me after the divorce. Last night, when his badge was taken, he called me and said I should leave the country. He told me the entire investigation would be blamed on Claire.”

I looked at her.

“And you suddenly developed a conscience?”

“No,” she admitted. “I realized he was willing to sacrifice me too.”

For once, I appreciated an honest answer, even if it came too late.

Helen collected the documents.

“We’ll verify everything before making any conclusions.”

Vanessa stood.

“There’s something else. Ethan has another copy of the original authorization. He keeps it in a safe at his private office.”

My heart began pounding.

“Why would he keep that?”

“Because he said it was his insurance policy.”

Before I could ask another question, the conference room door opened.

My father entered with two senior investigators from the company’s audit team.

“Claire,” he said gently. “We’ve found something.”

He placed a tablet on the table.

On the screen was a video recording from the company’s executive floor.

It showed Ethan entering the office after midnight six months earlier.

He opened a cabinet, removed a folder, and placed several documents inside a black briefcase.

Then another person entered.

I leaned closer.

The woman turned toward the camera.

My breath caught.

It was my younger sister, Emily.

“What?” I whispered.

Dad’s expression darkened.

“Your sister has been helping Ethan access documents that were supposed to remain confidential.”

I shook my head.

“No. Emily wouldn’t do that.”

Helen paused the footage.

“There’s more. The company received an anonymous message this morning. It claims Ethan and Emily have been planning to remove Richard from control of the family trust.”

I couldn’t speak.

My sister had attended my wedding. She had held my hand when my mother died. She had cried beside me when I discovered Ethan’s affair.

Had all of it been a lie?

My phone suddenly lit up.

A message from Emily appeared.

Claire, please don’t believe what Dad tells you. Ethan isn’t the person you should be afraid of.

A second message followed.

Meet me tonight. Alone. There’s something about our mother’s death that you need to know.

I read the words twice.

Our mother’s death?

My mother had died eleven years earlier in what everyone believed was a tragic highway accident.

I slowly looked up at my father.

He had gone completely pale.

“Dad?” I whispered. “What is Emily talking about?”

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then he closed the conference room door.

“Claire, there’s a reason I never wanted you to know what happened that night.”

My heart began racing.

“What reason?”

He looked directly into my eyes.

“Your mother wasn’t driving that car alone.”

And suddenly, the forty-eight million dollars, the forged signatures, and Ethan’s betrayal seemed like only the beginning of something much darker.