“Audrey, come down,” he ordered. “We can discuss whatever game you’re playing at home.”
“You lost the right to give me orders when you put your hands on me.”
The ballroom went silent again.
Camilla stepped away from him. “I had nothing to do with that.”
“You’re right,” I said. “The assault was Julian’s choice. Your choices involved nineteen invoices from a consulting company registered to your brother.”
Her face emptied.
Six weeks earlier, while reviewing Aurelia’s confidential books, I had noticed recurring “market access” fees just below the threshold requiring board approval. The vendor had no employees and shared an address with Camilla’s brother. Julian had approved every payment. Hotel records then showed that corporate funds covered their weekend trips, while altered expense reports described client meetings that never occurred.
I had not confronted them. I had expanded the audit.
The general counsel placed a black folder on the lectern. Julian stared at it as if it contained a weapon.
“You spied on me,” he said.
“I performed due diligence on a company I was buying.”
“You used our marriage to steal my future.”
“No. You used your position to steal from eight hundred employees.”
The screens behind me displayed a simple timeline: payments, approvals, luxury bookings, and transfers into an account Julian had opened without my knowledge. No private messages appeared. Nothing sensational was needed. Numbers told the truth with colder precision than gossip ever could.
