Chapter 13 - Julian’s Business Partners
Julian worked in private equity before losing his position nine months before the wake.
He told me he was “between funds.”
Reality:
He had been asked to resign after an internal risk dispute involving undisclosed personal investments.
Not criminal.
But career damage.
His partners did not know trust fraud.
One called me.
“Eleanor, I thought Julian had independent money.”
“He didn’t.”
“He talked like he did.”
“He always has.”
This mattered because Julian’s identity was competence.
He could not admit debt.
Victoria’s identity was control.
Together they built a household where appearance mattered more than solvency.
That did not excuse.
But motive rarely begins with villainy.
It begins with a story people tell themselves.
We deserve.
We’ll pay it back.
It’s family money.
No one will know.
May you like
Then:
We can make everyone think she died.
