Chapter 5 - Paige in My Chair
Paige stayed in mansion three more nights.
Not because she was brave.
Because she thought Dominic still controlled enough to make problems disappear.
Then Aster Vale’s independent audit began.
The auditors were not investigating adultery.
Companies do not care who kisses whom unless it affects company.
They cared about:
Expense accounts.
Vendor relationships.
Confidential information.
Executive approvals.
Related party transactions.
Paige had joined Vance Construction eight months earlier as external communications consultant through Landon Strategy Partners.
Her contract:
$28,000 per month.
High.
But not automatically improper.
Then expense reimbursements.
Luxury hotel weekends.
Jewelry classified as “client gifting.”
Private airfare.
A $19,600 dining bill over four months.
Dominic had approved personally.
Some could be legitimate.
Many lacked client names.
Then Paige’s apartment rent.
Three months of payments coded:
Executive relocation support.
She was not an employee being relocated.
Then a vehicle allowance.
Then one expense that caught auditors:
$42,000 payment to Bellweather Events for “foundation gala sponsorship coordination.”
Bellweather was owned by Paige’s college roommate.
No supporting work product.
That did not mean theft yet.
It meant review.
Then emails.
Dominic’s company laptop contained messages with Paige.
Not romantic at first.
Business.
Then personal.
Then explicit.
I did not read them all.
I did not need self-harm by evidence.
Sophia summarized only relevant parts.
One message from Paige:
Once Audrey is gone you can finally run things without her acting like a conscience.
Dominic:
She doesn’t know enough about company to matter.
Paige:
Good.
Another:
Your mother says the house should go to us eventually.
Dominic:
Mom talks.
Paige:
She likes me.
Dominic:
Because you don’t argue.
That hurt more than cheating.
Not because Paige won.
Because Dominic framed my boundaries as flaw.
Then the gala.
Two days before:
Victoria to Paige:
Keep Audrey occupied downstairs. Dominic needs investors relaxed.
Paige:
She knows about us.
Victoria:
Then let her leave after gala.
Paige:
She won’t go quietly.
Victoria:
She will when she understands she gets nothing.
There.
They believed poor Audrey would stay because she needed them.
Then evening of fall.
At 9:01 p.m., Paige texted Dominic:
Audrey just confronted me.
Dominic:
Not tonight.
Paige:
Your mother is handling.
At 9:11:
Victoria:
Turn staircase camera off. Audrey is making scene.
Message sent to Dominic.
At 9:13, camera disabled from Dominic’s phone.
My chest went cold reading.
He had done it.
Why?
His lawyer later said he intended privacy.
Not violence.
Perhaps.
But after I fell, he did not reactivate or preserve.
He told Sarah to say I slipped.
Then evidence preservation notice arrived and camera outage became impossible to hide.
This exposed Dominic to potential obstruction if he knowingly tried to conceal evidence after crime.
Then Paige.
She had witnessed part.
Her original police statement:
“I saw Audrey move toward Victoria and then lose balance.”
Not direct lie maybe.
But incomplete.
Security footage showed Paige was on upper landing with clear line.
Investigators asked again.
Her attorney appeared.
She stopped talking.
Then her personal motive.
Paige had debt.
Not catastrophe.
$180,000 student and consumer debt.
No trust fund despite presentation.
She wanted access.
But she also wanted status.
Victoria had encouraged relationship.
She thought Paige was more “appropriate” because Paige came from a socially connected Atlanta family.
Except Paige’s family money was mostly image too.
Two households pretending.
Then audit discovered a draft employment offer on Dominic’s computer:
Paige Landon, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs.
Salary $390,000.
Equity grant 2%.
Not board approved.
Dominic intended to formalize after gala.
Paige thought she was about to become executive and perhaps eventually wife.
Then her world shifted.
Dominic no longer had authority to grant equity.
Aster Vale had suspended him.
The mansion was not his.
The company was not controlled by family.
And the wife Paige had mocked for “needing Dominic” owned the majority investor they had spent years trying to impress.
I almost pitied her.
Almost.
Then Sophia said:
“Paige’s attorney requested meeting.”
“With me?”
“No. With audit committee.”
“Why?”
“She may cooperate.”
May you like
Of course.
Predators become witnesses when prey stops looking weak.
