Chapter 4 - THE FIRST LIE UNDER OATH
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By noon, Nora had received three calls from reporters.
By one, someone had leaked a photograph of her leaving the Harbor Crown Club with a suitcase.
The headline on a Boston business website read:
BREAKWATER CEO'S PREGNANT WIFE ABANDONS HOME AFTER ANNIVERSARY GALA.
The article described her as emotional, unpredictable, and increasingly difficult to manage.
It quoted an unnamed source who claimed Nora had been struggling with pregnancy-related anxiety.
Nora read the article once.
Then she closed it.
“They're trying to make me look unstable,” she said.
Holly nodded.
“It's a familiar tactic. If Camden can establish that you're unreliable before the trust dispute becomes public, he can make every document you produce look suspicious.”
Marcus placed another folder on the table.
“He's also filed for temporary control of the joint accounts.”
Nora looked up.
“Can he do that?”
“He can request it. Whether he gets it is another question.”
“What about the money I put into the company?”
“That's part of the financial investigation. We need to separate marital assets from corporate ownership.”
Nora looked at the screen.
“Can I prove I helped build Breakwater?”
“You can prove more than that,” Marcus replied.
He opened a scanned contract.
It was the original warehouse lease from fifteen years earlier.
Nora's signature appeared at the bottom.
Beside it was a handwritten guarantee.
She remembered the day clearly. Camden had been pacing outside the landlord's office, convinced they would lose the warehouse.
Nora had signed because she believed in him.
The document showed that she had personally guaranteed the lease and provided the initial deposit.
Marcus placed another page beside it.
“Your name appears on the original incorporation paperwork as a founding partner. It was removed from the public filing during a restructuring.”
“Without my permission.”
“That's what we're investigating.”
Holly leaned forward.
“If the removal involved forged signatures, it could become a criminal matter.”
Nora looked at the signature on the later document.
It resembled hers.
Almost perfectly.
But she knew she had never signed it.
“Camden did this.”
“Possibly,” Holly said. “But we need evidence.”
Nora thought of Bianca.
“Would she know?”
Marcus closed the folder.
“Bianca Sutter has been listed as a consultant to Breakwater for three years. Her brother owns Northstar Advisory, the company receiving questionable payments.”
“She's not just his mistress.”
“We don't know what she is yet.”
Nora looked at the photograph of herself leaving the gala.
The comments beneath it were already cruel.
Some called her ungrateful.
Others said she had trapped Camden with a pregnancy.
One person claimed she had been fired for stealing company funds.
Nora put the phone down.
“I want to see him.”
Holly frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I want him to say it to my face.”
“Don't meet him alone.”
“I won't.”
They arranged a meeting in a conference room at Holly's office. Camden arrived with two attorneys and Bianca.
Bianca wore a cream suit and carried a leather folder.
She looked at Nora's stomach before offering a small smile.
“Nora. You look well.”
Nora didn't answer.
Camden sat opposite her.
“You've created a mess.”
“You filed a petition saying I'm mentally unstable.”
“I'm trying to protect our child.”
“Then you should start by remembering it's our child, not a corporate asset.”
His attorney interrupted.
“Mr. Rourke is willing to provide a generous temporary settlement if you agree to withdraw any claims against Breakwater.”
Nora stared at him.
“How generous?”
He named an amount.
Nora almost laughed.
It was less than the money she had personally invested in the company.
Camden leaned forward.
“Take it. We can end this quietly.”
Nora looked directly at him.
“You want me to sign away my rights before I discover what you stole?”
His expression hardened.
“You don't understand what you're dealing with.”
“Then explain it.”
Bianca opened her folder.
“We have concerns about your access to confidential company information.”
Nora looked at her.
“You mean the information I created?”
Bianca's smile disappeared.
Camden stood.
“Meeting's over.”
As they reached the door, Nora spoke.
“One question.”
Camden turned.
“Did you know about the Whitmore trust before you married me?”
For the first time, he looked afraid.
May you like
Bianca stopped moving.
And Nora understood that she had finally asked the right question.
