Chapter 9 - After She Was Gone
By noon, clips from the wedding were everywhere among their friends.
Someone had filmed Lucy shouting. Someone else had caught Victoria reaching for the checks. The messages on Ethan's phone changed from congratulations to questions, then to ugly guesses.
Dana asked the guests she could reach to stop sharing footage of the child.
Ethan sent one statement to the wedding group.
The wedding is canceled. A child and her seriously ill mother deserve privacy. Please remove any videos and do not contact them.
Then he muted the thread.
Walter missed the deadline by seventeen minutes.
He arrived at Dana's office carrying two archive boxes. Ethan joined them after Mrs. Alvarez promised to stay with Lucy.
"No summaries," Ethan told his father. "No missing pages."
"This is what I have."
Dana brought in an independent accountant. The old records weren't dramatic: payroll sheets, bank statements, vendor invoices, folders labeled by month.
Olivia's name appeared beside the transfers Victoria had shown her.
Ethan felt his stomach drop.
Then the accountant moved a page to the center of the table.
"When did Ms. Bennett leave?"
Walter gave the date.
"And she no longer had account access?"
"Her login was disabled that day."
The accountant laid out three more statements.
The payments continued afterward.
Same recipient. Same descriptions. Same amounts broken into smaller transfers.
"That doesn't establish who started them," he said. "But someone else kept them going."
Dana asked who approved vendor payments after Olivia left.
Walter stared at his hands.
"Victoria."
Ethan leaned back slowly.
For twelve years, Victoria had carried a story in which Olivia was the thief and she was the loyal woman who cleaned up the damage.
The account had kept losing money long after Olivia was gone.
The accountant turned to the current statements Walter had brought.
Another payment to the same vendor appeared the previous month.
"Who provides this service?" he asked.
Walter didn't answer.
"Dad."
"Victoria handled the relationship."
"Did you ever meet anyone from the company?"
"No."
Dana closed her pen.
"We need to preserve the current records immediately and notify the board."
Walter's phone vibrated on the table.
May you like
Victoria's message filled the screen.
Tell me you didn't give them the boxes.
