Chapter 7 - The Audit and the Mistress
By late afternoon, the public backlash against Mark and Eleanor was absolute. Eleanor's social media post was inundated with thousands of furious comments calling for her immediate arrest, and local businesses began publicly cutting ties with Mark.
Inside the mansion's command room, Victoria and my chief financial investigator, David, sat surrounded by stacks of financial ledgers from Mark’s supposed "boutique marketing agency."
"It's worse than we thought, Claire," David said, sliding a thick audit report across the desk. "Over the past two years, you funneled one point five million dollars into Mark’s company under the impression he was acquiring commercial clients."
"Where did the money actually go?" I asked.
"He didn't have any clients," David revealed, opening a folder containing credit card receipts and wire transfers. "He spent eight hundred thousand dollars paying off illegal underground sports gambling debts. And the remaining seven hundred thousand?"
David tapped a series of luxury apartment leases and jewelry store receipts.
"He’s been maintaining a luxury penthouse downtown for a twenty-four-year-old aspiring model named Chloe," David said. "He bought her a sports car, designer handbags, and gave her a monthly allowance of twenty thousand dollars—all drawn directly from the business credit accounts you guaranteed."
I looked at the receipts. There was no pain left in my heart—only an icy, crystalline clarity. The man I had supported, the man who had treated my mother like dirt, was not only a parasite and an abuser, but a pathetic fraud who used my hard-earned wealth to buy the affection of a young mistress.
"Is Chloe’s apartment lease in the company’s name?" I asked.
"Yes," David replied. "Your name is listed as the master guarantor."
"Terminate the lease immediately," I commanded. "Send a repossession team for the sports car tonight. And file a corporate lawsuit against Mark for grand embezzlement and breach of fiduciary duty."
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Victoria smirked, writing notes rapidly on her pad. "That will trigger immediate personal bankruptcy for him, Claire. Without your backing, he owes the corporate creditors over two million dollars personally."
"Good," I said, standing up and looking out at the sunset. "Let him see what happens when the foundation he took for granted disappears completely."
