Chapter 2 - Seven Months of Lies
At 8:04 the next morning, Julian discovered his access card no longer opened the executive entrance at Meditron Systems.
By 8:11, his company email stopped working.
At 8:19, security escorted him into a conference room.
Victoria received the same treatment across town.
Neither knew Elena was already sitting in Margaret Heller’s office.
Margaret placed a printed copy of the bedroom photograph between them.
“You understand why this matters?”
Elena nodded.
“Victoria was bidding on Julian’s contract.”
“Correct.”
Margaret tapped the blue folder.
“These are competitor scoring sheets.”
Elena felt sick.
“What could she do with them?”
“Know exactly how much to lower her price. Which technical weaknesses competitors had. Which categories mattered most to evaluators.”
“So Julian could make sure she won.”
“Potentially.”
Margaret folded her hands.
“We’ve suspected bid manipulation for months.”
Elena thought of Julian’s recent lifestyle.
The expensive watch he claimed was a bonus.
The weekend trips.
The sudden insistence that they refinance their house.
“What else?”
Margaret studied her.
“Has Julian ever mentioned a company called Northstar Advisory?”
“No.”
“Any accounts in the Cayman Islands?”
“No.”
“Any payments from Victoria?”
“No.”
Margaret slid another document across the table.
It showed three transfers.
$180,000.
$240,000.
$315,000.
All routed through Northstar Advisory.
Elena stared.
“Who owns it?”
“That’s what we’re trying to determine.”
Her phone vibrated.
Julian.
She declined.
He called again.
Then a message appeared.
WHAT DID YOU DO?
Elena showed Margaret.
“Do not answer.”
Another arrived.
You have destroyed my career over a misunderstanding.
Elena almost laughed.
A misunderstanding.
She touched her swollen cheek.
Margaret noticed.
“What happened to your face?”
Elena told her.
For the first time, Margaret’s professional expression cracked.
“He hit you?”
“And fractured my finger.”
“Have you filed a police report?”
“Not yet.”
“Do it.”
Elena looked down.
“I keep thinking about eleven years.”
Margaret’s voice softened.
“Eleven years do not obligate you to give him a twelfth.”
That sentence stayed with Elena.
By noon, she had filed the report.
By three, Julian had hired an attorney.
By five, he had started telling relatives that Elena had attacked him first.
But at 6:12, something happened Julian had not expected.
Victoria disappeared.
She stopped answering his calls.
And at 7:30, Margaret called Elena.
“We searched Julian’s office.”
“And?”
“We found a second phone.”
Elena’s stomach dropped.
“What was on it?”
“Messages with Victoria.”
“That’s hardly surprising.”
“It wasn’t only Victoria.”
Margaret paused.
“There are messages with three other suppliers.”
Elena went silent.
Then Margaret said, “And Elena?”
“Yes?”
“One of those suppliers paid Northstar Advisory.”
The affair was no longer the center of the story.
May you like
It was merely the door Elena had accidentally opened.
And behind it was something much larger.
