“And investigating Ethan’s company?”
“My company too.”
The words came out more sharply than I intended.
Pain flared through my side.
Priya, who had been reviewing my imaging report near the counter, looked over.
“Easy.”
I exhaled slowly.
“My father established a trust before he died,” I continued. “The trust holds a controlling block of preferred shares in Apex Development.”
Ruiz paused.
“Your husband founded Apex, correct?”
“Technically, yes. He started the original company. It was called Hayes Residential Group. Five employees. Mostly renovations and small commercial contracts.”
“And you became involved when?”
“After we were engaged.”
I looked at Liam.
“You remember.”
“Of course I remember.”
His voice was quieter now.
Our father had died eighteen months before my wedding.
Pancreatic cancer.
Fast.
Cruel in a way that had nothing to do with villains or blame.
Our mother had been gone for years by then, and after Dad’s funeral, Liam and I had coped in opposite directions.
He threw himself into medicine.
I threw myself into Ethan.
At least, that was how it looked.
The truth was more complicated.
Ethan’s business had been drowning.
Unpaid suppliers.
Tax problems.
A lawsuit from a former partner.
He had charisma and ambition, but no discipline with money.
I had discipline.
I also had an inheritance I didn’t know what to do with.
“My father’s trust invested in the company,” I told Ruiz. “I restructured the debt and created the holding entities that later became Apex.”
“And the preferred shares?”
“Mine through the trust.”
“Does your husband know?”
“He knows the trust exists. He has copies of the agreements.”
“But does he understand that you have voting control?”
I thought of Ethan signing papers in our lawyer’s office years earlier.
He had skimmed the first page.
Tapped his pen against the table.
Asked when the new financing would clear.
I had tried to explain the protective structure.
He kissed my cheek in front of everyone and said, “That’s why I married the smartest woman in the room.”
Then he signed.
“He understood whatever he wanted to understand,” I said.
Ruiz stopped writing.
“And what prompted the independent audit?”
For the first time, I hesitated.
Because that was the question underneath everything.
The bruise on my wrist had pushed me toward Liam.
The missing phone had pushed me toward a therapist.
The night Ethan locked me out of our joint accounts had pushed me to review the trust.
But the audit?
That began with fourteen thousand, eight hundred dollars.
A tiny amount by Apex standards.
Barely enough to pay for a few days of equipment rentals on one of Ethan’s larger projects.
The payment had been made to a consulting company called Northline Strategies.
There was no invoice.
No contract.
No description of services.
I noticed it because I had trained myself to notice things that didn’t fit.
“I found a vendor payment,” I said.
“Fraud?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Do you know now?”
“No.”
Liam frowned.
“Maya, six months is a long time for an audit.”
“Not with thirty-eight related entities and years of archived transactions.”
Ruiz’s pen stopped again.
“Thirty-eight?”
“Some are legitimate project companies. Apex creates separate entities for certain developments.”
“And some aren’t legitimate?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Ruiz noticed.
A brief glimmer of understanding crossed her face.
“You’re a forensic accountant,” she said.
“Was.”
“You don’t stop knowing how to do it.”
“No.”
“Did you find something?”
I looked at Liam.
Then at Priya.
Then back at the detective.
“I found a pattern I couldn’t explain.”
“What kind of pattern?”
“Small payments. Different vendors. Different departments. Different authorizing managers.”
“To Northline?”
“Northline was one. There were eleven others.”
Ruiz waited.
“Each vendor received payments below internal review thresholds,” I said. “Not enough to trigger enhanced approvals. Individually, they looked ordinary. Together, over four years, they totaled just over three million dollars.”
Liam sat back.
“Three million?”
