Chapter 6: What Victoria Had Already Done
I called my attorney, Daniel Fitch, from the car.
"I saw the message," he said before I could speak.
"How long has this been building?"
"Longer than I admitted to myself." I pulled out of the parking space.
"Daniel, I need you to do something before you respond to her firm."
"Tell me."
"Pull the Mercer Foundation accounts.
All of them.
I want to know what Victoria has had access to and what she's moved in the last six months."
A pause.
"Julian, that's a significant—"
"I know what it is.
Do it today."
Another pause, longer.
"Is there something specific you're expecting to find?"
I thought about Victoria on the phone at the tournament.
The way she had said *I paid top dollar.* Not *we paid.* Not *the sponsorship covered it.* I paid.
"Yes," I said.
"I think there is."
Daniel called back at three in the afternoon.
I was in my office, door closed, when the call came through.
"Sit down," Daniel said.
"I'm already sitting."
"Sit down more." He exhaled.
"In the last seven months, approximately $340,000 has been moved from the Mercer Foundation's discretionary events account into a private account registered to a company called Prestige Academic Consulting LLC."
The room was very quiet.
"And Prestige Academic Consulting," I said slowly.
"Is registered to a director whose name is listed as V.
Hartwell." A pause.
"Hartwell is Victoria's maiden name."
I set my pen down on the desk.
"She used foundation money," I said.
"To pay for Preston's tutoring.
His tournament entry.
His coaching."
"And more than that." Daniel's voice was careful.
"Two payments totaling $80,000 appear to have been directed to a firm that provides — and I'm reading the invoice description directly — *academic competition consulting and performance optimization services.*"
"She tried to buy the result."
"That appears to be what the invoices suggest, yes."
I stood up.
Walked to the window.
The city below was going about its afternoon, entirely unaware.
"Daniel." My voice was steady.
"I want a full forensic audit.
Every account she had access to.
Every transfer.
Every invoice.
I want it documented completely."
"Julian, if this goes where I think it goes, this isn't just a divorce matter.
This is potential fraud against the Foundation.
The Foundation has a board.
They will need to be informed."
"I know."
"And once the board is informed, it becomes very difficult to contain."
"I'm not trying to contain it." I turned away from the window.
"She used money that was meant for educational grants to try to rig a competition against two thirteen-year-old boys.
Against my sons." I stopped.
It was the first time I had used that word out loud without the qualifier.
My sons.
"I'm not protecting her from the consequences of that."
Daniel was quiet for a moment.
"All right," he said.
"I'll have the audit team in place by tomorrow morning."
"One more thing.
The tournament committee — Victoria made calls last night.
I need to know if any money changed hands there too."
"I'll look."
I hung up.
Stood at the window for another minute.
Then I called Elena.
She picked up on the second ring.
"Julian."
"I need to tell you something," I said.
"And I need you to hear it before it becomes public, because it will become public."
A beat.
"Go ahead."
"Victoria used Mercer Foundation funds to pay for Preston's preparation for last night's tournament.
Including what appear to be payments to consultants who may have attempted to influence the results." I paused.
"Your sons won that competition cleanly.
I want you to know that I know that, and that I intend to make certain everyone else knows it too."
The silence on Elena's end lasted long enough that I checked the phone to make sure the call was still connected.
"How much?" she asked finally.
"Over four hundred thousand dollars in total."
Another silence.
"Leo and Ethan don't know about this yet," she said.
"I know.
I wanted to tell you first."
"Why?"
I thought about how to answer that.
There were several true answers.
I chose the simplest one.
"Because you're their mother.
And because you've been protecting them alone for thirteen years.
You deserve to know what was done before anyone else does."
She didn't respond immediately.
When she did, her voice was quieter than I had heard it since the corridor.
"Thank you," she said.
"For calling."
"Elena." I stopped.
"I'm going to fix this.
Not because it undoes anything.
I know it doesn't.
But because those boys deserve to have the record completely clear."
"Yes," she said.
"They do."
She hung up.
I sat back down at my desk.
The audit would take forty-eight hours.
The board meeting would follow.
And somewhere on the other side of all of it, Victoria was sitting in our house — my house — with no idea that the forensic accountants were already pulling thread.
My phone lit up on the desk.
A text from Preston.
*Can we talk?
Not about last night.
About something else.
It's important.*
I stared at the message.
Preston never initiated serious conversations.
In nineteen years, he had come to me with problems exactly twice — once when he failed his driving test, once when he crashed a car he wasn't supposed to be driving.
Both times, Victoria had sent him.
This text had the specific grammar of a young man who had composed it himself.
I typed back: *Tomorrow morning.
My office.
Eight o'clock.*
His reply came in four seconds.
*Okay.*
I put the phone in my jacket pocket and reached for the audit request form Daniel had sent over.
Outside my office door, I could hear my assistant fielding calls.
Three from Victoria's publicist.
One from the tournament committee's legal office.
May you like
The thread was already unraveling.
Victoria just didn't know it yet.
