Chapter 6 - THE HUSBAND WHO SIGNED AWAY HIS EXCUSES
“He confirmed it.”
Simone said the words without emotion.
Margaret watched her carefully.
“The system records the verification,” she answered. “But it doesn't tell us whether he understood the document.”
“He received the code.”
“Yes.”
“And approved it.”
“That's what the audit trail suggests.”
Simone looked at the authorization note.
For days, part of her had wanted to believe Gregory's betrayal began and ended with another woman.
That he had been selfish.
Cowardly.
Unfaithful.
Now she faced a harder possibility.
He had helped someone reach into her private financial life.
“Schedule a meeting,” she said.
Rebecca frowned.
“With Gregory?”
“Yes.”
“I would prefer communications through counsel.”
“I know.”
Simone looked directly at her.
“Then arrange it with counsel present. I want to hear him answer the question.”
The meeting took place the following morning in Rebecca's office.
Gregory arrived in a wrinkled shirt.
He looked as though he had not slept.
Simone sat at one end of the conference table.
Rebecca sat beside her.
Gregory had retained his own attorney, a quiet man named Samuel Pierce.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Gregory looked at Simone.
“You look tired.”
She almost smiled.
“That would have meant something three days ago.”
He lowered his eyes.
“Simone, I want to apologize.”
“For which part?”
He swallowed.
“All of it.”
Rebecca placed the authentication record on the table.
“Mr. Mitchell, did you authorize this verification?”
Gregory examined it.
His face changed.
“Yes.”
Simone felt something inside her go still.
“Why?”
Gregory rubbed his forehead.
“Britney said it was an administrative update.”
“For what?”
“A benefits account.”
Simone stared at him.
“My family trust?”
“I didn't know that.”
“Did you read anything before approving it?”
“No.”
“Did you ask me?”
“No.”
“Then why would you approve a financial request involving my identity?”
Gregory looked miserable.
“Because Britney told me it would help clear up paperwork before the acquisition.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Did she tell you she was submitting an authorization in Simone's name?”
“No.”
“Did you give her access to your wife's personal records?”
Gregory hesitated.
Simone's heart sank.
“Gregory.”
He looked at her.
“Answer.”
“I gave her copies of some household documents.”
“Which ones?”
“Our marriage certificate. The insurance folder. A copy of your driver's license.”
Simone closed her eyes.
He hurried on.
“She said our financial disclosure needed updating because of the executive compensation package.”
“Your twelve-million-dollar bonus?”
His face reddened.
“I hadn't finalized anything.”
“You asked for twelve million dollars from a transaction financed by my firm.”
“I didn't know it was yours!”
Simone opened her eyes.
“That makes it better?”
Gregory stared at her.
“I thought I'd finally done something important.”
The words hung between them.
For the first time, Simone saw the insecurity beneath his arrogance without feeling responsible for curing it.
“You did have something important,” she said.
He looked confused.
“A marriage. A home. People who trusted you.”
His eyes filled.
“And you traded that for applause.”
Gregory looked down.
Rebecca continued the questioning.
Had he known about Charles Voss?
No.
Had he understood Britney's connection to Peter Lawson?
Only recently.
Had he provided access credentials beyond the verification code?
He admitted that Britney sometimes used his office computer after hours.
Rebecca made careful notes.
By the time the meeting ended, Gregory had acknowledged enough careless behavior to create serious professional consequences.
But there was still no evidence he had knowingly participated in identity fraud.
Simone stood.
Gregory stood too.
“Can we talk alone?”
Rebecca looked toward Simone.
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Please.”
Simone picked up her handbag.
“You asked me to leave your house, Gregory.”
His face twisted.
“I know.”
“You were wrong about whose house it was.”
“I know that too.”
She paused.
“But the house isn't why I'm leaving this marriage.”
Then she walked out.
At Ellis Meridian, Margaret had uncovered another transaction.
Three months before the Northbridge acquisition proposal, Charles Voss had purchased a distressed debt position tied to Halston Creative.
The position gave him leverage if the acquisition failed.
Simone studied the documents.
“He wins if the deal closes?”
Margaret nodded.
“And if it collapses under the wrong circumstances, he may still acquire certain assets at a discount.”
Rebecca frowned.
“That's an unusual structure.”
“Not illegal by itself,” Margaret said. “But it creates competing incentives.”
Simone looked at the transaction dates.
Charles had positioned himself before Gregory's proposed success fee appeared.
Before the forged authorization.
Before the acquisition committee received false statements about who controlled the financing.
“This wasn't improvised,” she said.
“No,” Margaret replied.
Rebecca brought up another record.
“A litigation search found something relevant.”
Twenty years earlier, Charles Voss had sued Daniel Ellis over the old transportation company settlement.
The suit had been dismissed after Charles failed to produce reliable accounting records.
Simone leaned closer.
“What was he claiming?”
“That Daniel had concealed assets during the liquidation.”
“Did he?”
“The court found insufficient evidence.”
Simone examined the case summary.
There was an attachment.
An affidavit signed by Peter Lawson.
Britney's father.
According to the affidavit, Peter had believed certain company funds were missing.
Simone looked at Rebecca.
“Did my father know Peter was still owed money?”
“Possibly. The settlement records we have are incomplete.”
Simone's throat tightened.
She had been defending her father's memory with absolute confidence.
But what if he had missed something?
What if a worker truly had been left behind?
“Find Peter Lawson,” she said.
Margaret looked up.
“Why?”
“Because if someone suffered while my family rebuilt its fortune, I need to know.”
Rebecca nodded.
“And because his testimony may clarify whether Charles has a legitimate claim or has been exploiting an old grievance.”
Peter Lawson lived in a modest ranch house outside Rockford.
He was seventy, with a weathered face and hands marked by decades of work.
He listened as Simone introduced herself.
When she mentioned Daniel Ellis, he grew quiet.
“Your father was a good man,” he said.
Simone blinked.
“I thought you believed he cheated you.”
Peter frowned.
“Who told you that?”
“Your daughter's involvement suggests—”
“My daughter doesn't know everything.”
He reached for an old photograph on the side table.
It showed Peter standing beside a delivery truck, holding a young Britney.
“She grew up hearing how hard things were,” he said. “I didn't tell her every detail. Some memories make children carry anger that was never theirs.”
Simone sat down.
“Mr. Lawson, did my father leave you unpaid?”
Peter shook his head.
“Your father paid what the company owed me. He even covered wages Martin had stopped recording.”
“Then why did you sign an affidavit against him?”
Peter's expression darkened.
“Because Charles Voss told me the payments were temporary and that signing would help recover retirement money.”
“Did he recover it?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
Peter looked ashamed.
“I found out later that Charles used my name to pursue money for himself.”
Simone leaned forward.
“Do you have proof?”
Peter rose slowly.
He opened a cabinet and removed a brown envelope.
“I kept every paper because I promised your father I would.”
Inside was a canceled check.
A handwritten letter.
And a carbon copy of a financial statement.
Peter placed the statement in front of Simone.
“Your father told me if Charles ever came back, this would matter.”
Simone looked at the numbers.
There was a transfer for $3.8 million.
An account ending in 4419.
And a beneficiary designation.
She read the name twice.
Then looked at Peter.
“Mr. Lawson, why is my husband's name on an account opened before he finished college?”
Peter lowered his voice.
“Because Charles Voss wasn't trying to collect an old debt.”
May you like
He touched the statement.
“He was trying to get back money he'd hidden under Gregory's name.”
