Chapter 5 - Clean
Brenda recovered quickly.
People like her did.
She smiled at nearby guests.
“Personal misunderstanding.”
Catherine’s expression did not change.
“Then I’m sure the independent auditors will be relieved.”
Brenda’s smile vanished.
Derek leaned close to me.
“You have no idea what Catherine is doing.”
I stepped back.
“You took my phone.”
“That was because you were hysterical.”
“I was sitting in your car.”
“You were yelling.”
“I begged you not to leave.”
His eyes flickered.
Maybe he remembered.
Then:
“Briarline was supposed to be ours.”
“No.”
“You signed.”
“I was in Seattle.”
He went still.
“How do you know date?”
Because he had sent it.
That was his mistake.
I smiled.
“You showed me.”
Brenda whispered:
“Derek, stop talking.”
Catherine tapped cane.
“Excellent advice.”
Then Thomas guided us toward ballroom exit.
I expected Derek to follow.
He did.
Hotel security stepped between.
“Sir, Mrs. Wilmington’s party has requested space.”
“My wife is with them.”
I turned.
“Soon not.”
His face broke.
It was first time I said it.
Divorce.
Then elevator doors closed.
Inside, my knees shook.
Catherine heard.
“Sit.”
“There isn’t…”
Thomas folded small jump seat? Luxury elevator no. Instead we exited private lounge and sat. Better.
Thomas guided us into quiet donor lounge.
I sat.
Catherine beside.
“You did well.”
“I wanted to hit him.”
“That would have been less elegant.”
“I’m not elegant.”
“Neither am I. People confuse age with restraint.”
Then Thomas’s phone rang.
He listened.
“Graham.”
Catherine nodded.
Thomas put speaker.
Graham Ellis:
“The Sterling Crown board has acknowledged Wilmington notice and engaged outside counsel.”
“Who?”
“Fletcher Ames.”
Catherine approved.
Independent.
Then:
“They placed Derek on paid administrative leave pending records preservation.”
My chest tightened.
“Because of me?”
Graham answered:
“Because finance director appears connected to undisclosed vendor receiving company payments and because loan covenant requires investigation.”
Not because wife complaint alone.
Then:
“Brenda?”
“She remains in position temporarily but special committee limits authority over audit because she may be witness.”
Good.
Catherine said:
“Do not fire anyone for optics.”
Graham almost laughed.
“Already told them.”
Then I asked:
“What did Brenda mean by clean?”
Silence.
Graham:
“We don’t know.”
Then:
“Sterling Crown’s general counsel produced an email chain from eight months ago.”
“What?”
“Derek requested Briarline be added as preferred consulting vendor.”
He stated:
No conflict.
Then Brenda approved.
My stomach twisted.
“She knew he requested.”
“Yes.”
“Did she know it was in my name?”
“Vendor onboarding lists Olivia Bennett as owner.”
Brenda’s digital approval appears below.
She knew my name.
Maybe she thought I truly owned company.
But if sleeping with Derek, she knew I was his wife.
Conflict obvious.
Then Catherine:
“What services?”
“Fleet rebate reconciliation and marketing analytics.”
Derek’s own finance department could do some.
Then:
“Any actual work?”
“Unknown.”
Audit.
Good.
Then Graham added:
“There is a second vendor.”
I groaned.
“Harbor Nine?”
“No.”
“Briarline paid a company called North Coast Promotions.”
“Who owns?”
“Still tracing.”
Then hotel receipts.
Those were from Derek and Brenda.
But maybe paid by Briarline.
Yes.
Credit card records showed Briarline business card paid for rooms at Four Seasons Miami and Beverly Hills.
Guest names:
Derek Bennett.
Brenda Sloan.
Some labeled CLIENT DEVELOPMENT.
No clients listed.
Corporate money funded affair partly.
Then an offshore statement from Harbor Nine.
How did Catherine get? Could be from documents in Derek's discarded? Need lawful source. The bank transfer info only destination name. Catherine's investigators can search leaked? Better auditors obtained via Sterling Crown records where Harbor Nine was referenced in Briarline invoices? Let's say a printed statement had been attached inadvertently to Briarline reimbursement packet and scanned into Sterling Crown AP system. That's source. Good.
Graham explained:
One reimbursement submission included an attached statement page for Harbor Nine Holdings.
Balance:
$487,200.
Account holders hidden in statement.
But contact email:
d.bennett at private domain.
Derek.
That was sheet I threw.
Then Catherine's investigator traced Harbor Nine corporate registry via lawful service.
Directors:
Derek Bennett.
Brenda Sloan.
Beneficial owners not publicly listed yet.
Now bigger.
I stared at Catherine.
“They have a company together.”
“Yes.”
“Offshore.”
“Offshore does not automatically mean illegal.”
She corrected.
“It means we ask why.”
Good.
Then Rebecca, my lawyer, called.
She had filed emergency petition for temporary financial restraints in divorce.
Not freezing Derek’s separate business assets beyond court authority.
But preventing dissipation of joint marital funds and requiring return of my identification, phone, cards.
My phone was evidence now.
Police had arranged collection from Derek through counsel.
He no longer had.
Then:
“Do you want file divorce tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Certain?”
I thought of him reaching across my lap.
Thirty two dollars.
Punishment.
Then Briarline.
“Yes.”
Paperwork tomorrow.
Then Catherine asked:
“Where will you live?”
“I don’t know.”
“My house until you choose.”
“I can’t afford…”
“This is not a hotel.”
“I don’t want to owe you.”
Her face softened.
“Good.”
Then:
“That is how I know you can stay.”
I cried.
Catherine reached.
Found my hand.
“Listen carefully.”
“I am not rescuing you.”
“You already did.”
“No.”
She shook.
“I gave you transportation and lawyers.”
Then:
“You are the one who said no at that table.”
That distinction mattered.
Then Thomas said:
“Mrs. Wilmington.”
“Yes?”
“You should tell her.”
Catherine became still.
“Tell me what?”
Thomas hesitated.
Catherine sighed.
“I recognized your husband’s behavior before you told me anything.”
“Why?”
She touched her white cane.
“When I lost my sight, someone in my family decided blindness meant I no longer deserved control of my own money.”
I stared.
“Who?”
“My nephew.”
Then:
“He did not leave me at a bus stop.”
She smiled without humor.
“He left me somewhere worse.”
“Where?”
May you like
“In my own boardroom.”
Continue to the next part: Catherine reveals that her anger at Derek is rooted in the years when someone tried to turn her disability into proof she could no longer control her own life.
