Chapter 4 - The Business Mark Hid From Me
Two days later, I left the hospital with my newborn daughter in my arms.
I named her Grace.
Not because the previous forty-eight hours had been graceful.
Because somehow, despite everything, she had arrived safely.
Mrs. Rivera drove us to temporary military housing.
Mark was not allowed inside.
He sent thirty-seven messages.
I answered none.
My attorney handled communication.
General Hayes handled the security investigation.
And Claire handed investigators her phone.
What they found changed everything.
Mark and Victor had created a consulting company eleven months earlier.
Sterling Ridge Solutions.
I had never heard of it.
The company had borrowed nearly four million dollars.
And it was failing.
Badly.
Victor disappeared the morning after Mark was removed from my hospital room.
Three days later, investigators discovered why.
Mark had apparently promised investors access to “high-level government procurement relationships.”
Relationships he didn’t have.
But he had me.
His wife.
A senior Army officer whose actual position he hadn’t understood.
He had apparently believed my name could eventually open doors.
Then he discovered my grandfather’s inheritance.
Twenty million dollars.
Suddenly, Mark had another solution to his failing company.
My money.
My attorney, David Mercer, placed a stack of documents on the table.
“He was preparing to claim you had agreed to invest.”
I stared at him.
“How?”
“Electronic signatures.”
My stomach dropped.
“Forged?”
“Very likely.”
Mrs. Rivera sat beside Grace’s bassinet.
“That man deserves whatever is coming.”
David continued.
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
“Mark took out a home-equity line.”
I stared at him.
“He couldn’t do that without me.”
“He shouldn’t have been able to.”
I understood immediately.
“Another forged signature.”
David nodded.
“How much?”
“Six hundred thousand.”
I closed my eyes.
The house I thought we owned together was nearly buried in debt.
“Where did the money go?”
“Sterling Ridge.”
My phone rang.
General Hayes.
I answered.
“Sir.”
“We found Victor.”
“Where?”
“At Dulles Airport.”
“Leaving the country?”
“Trying to.”
I stood.
“What did he say?”
Hayes paused.
“He says Mark planned everything.”
“Everything?”
“The affair.”
I looked at Grace.
“What about it?”
“Victor claims Mark deliberately targeted Major Dawson after learning she was connected to your incoming command.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Claire hadn’t simply been another woman.
Mark had chosen her because of me.
May you like
Then Hayes added the sentence that turned my anger into something colder.
“And Victor says Mark has copies of documents from your classified home workspace.”
