Chapter 13 - The Man Behind the Money|
The message could have been a distraction, but it matched a suspicion Daniel had been developing.
Martin had moved the money, yet several transfers appeared to have been authorized through an older account associated with Richard Reed's estate. Someone else might have been controlling the process.
We examined the surviving records and discovered that the estate's administrative trustee had changed twice in the past year.
The current trustee was Charles Whitmore.
Cameron stared at the paperwork.
“My father appointed an independent trustee before he died. Charles had no reason to take over.”
“Unless someone altered the documents,” Daniel said.
The three of us spent hours comparing signatures, dates, and filing records. A discrepancy emerged in a certificate submitted to the court. The document had been signed by an attorney who claimed to have witnessed Richard's final instructions.
That attorney had died several years earlier.
Daniel immediately notified the relevant authorities.
Meanwhile, Cameron began rebuilding support among Reed Global's directors. He didn't demand that they restore his authority. Instead, he provided the preliminary audit findings and proposed an independent review of the company's governance.
Several directors who had voted against him agreed to reconsider their position.
“They don't need to like me,” Cameron told me. “They need to understand that the company can survive the truth.”
I watched him work until midnight.
He was still brilliant and demanding, but the old arrogance had changed. He listened more carefully. He asked questions instead of issuing orders. When an employee challenged one of his assumptions, he thanked her for catching the mistake.
It was a small change.
It was also the first time I had seen him behave like the leader he claimed to be.
At home, our relationship remained uncertain. He never assumed that the hours we spent together gave him the right to touch me. Sometimes we talked for hours. Sometimes we sat in silence.
One evening, I asked him about his childhood.
“My father believed affection made people weak,” he said. “If I cried, he told me to stop. If I failed, he made sure everyone knew. I learned that the safest thing was to become impossible to criticize.”
“And Vanessa?”
“She understood that world. She wanted the same things my father wanted: influence, certainty, a life where nobody could surprise her.”
“Is that why you chose her?”
“I thought being with someone who understood power would make me feel less alone.”
He looked at me.
“I was wrong.”
The admission stayed with me.
The following morning, Daniel received a call from a bank compliance officer. The missing funds had been divided among several accounts, but one transfer had been stopped before completion.
The beneficiary name was unexpected.
Andrew Reed Foundation.
Andrew had supposedly died decades ago.
Cameron immediately requested the original records.
The account had been opened shortly before Andrew's death and had received a small deposit every year since. Recent activity suggested that someone had accessed it using credentials issued to Richard Reed.
“Could Andrew have survived the boating accident?” I asked.
Cameron shook his head slowly.
“The official investigation identified his body.”
“Then someone has been using his name.”
Daniel opened the account file.
The original beneficiary was listed as a woman whose identity had been concealed through a legal arrangement.
When the name finally appeared on the screen, Cameron went completely silent.
It belonged to Eleanor Reed.
His grandmother had continued funding the account until the year she died.
And the last person authorized to access it was not Richard, Martin, or Charles.
May you like
It was a woman named Evelyn Shaw.
The doctor who had treated my mother on the night of the accident.
