You said belong.”
“I misspoke.”
“You screamed very clearly.”
Her voice rose.
“This is entrapment.”
“This is a termination notice,” Dad said.
Anthony stepped toward him.
“Enough.
You don’t get to humiliate my mother because Eleanor is bitter.”
I moved between them before Leonard had to.
“This stopped being about our marriage when company money started paying businesses that existed only on paper.”
Anthony’s face changed again.
He had expected accusations about the affair.
He had prepared explanations for Christina, hotel charges, dinners, and private messages.
Those were betrayals, but they were personal betrayals.
The folder contained something else.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“I know a vendor called MRC Advisory received monthly payments for risk analysis,” I replied.
“I know it had no employees listed, no functioning office, and the same mailing address once used by your uncle.”
Catherine interrupted.
“MRC provided strategic services.”
“What services?” I asked.
She looked at Anthony.
He did not look back.
I continued.
“I know North Harbor Procurement submitted three supposedly competitive bids for a construction project.
Legal found that all three proposals were created on the same computer.
I know payroll included two project coordinators who never entered this building, never logged into company systems, and never attended a client meeting.”
Christina stared at Anthony.
“You told me your cousins worked remotely.”
“Christina,” he warned.
She opened her bag and pulled out her personal phone.
Leonard’s posture sharpened.
“No recording in the lobby.”
“I’m not recording,” she said.
“I’m checking something.”
Anthony reached for the device.
She stepped away from him.
The movement was small, but it changed the room.
Until then, she had been attached to his arm like proof of victory.
Now she was looking at him as though she had just realized trophies could become evidence.
“Were those transfers company money?” she asked.
He lowered his voice.
“Put the phone away.”
“You said the consulting payments were bonuses.”
Catherine’s face tightened.
Anthony looked around at the witnesses and understood that every answer made the situation worse.
He chose attack.
“This is exactly why Eleanor never belonged in leadership,” he said.
“She turns private conversations into public accusations.
She has no operational experience.
She disappeared from the company for years.”
Every word was partly true, which was how Anthony preferred his lies.
I had stepped away from Prescott Holdings after our marriage.
I had allowed him to become my connection to the company.
I had ignored meetings, deferred questions, and told myself supporting my husband meant trusting his judgment.
