Chapter 7: What Wendy Did Next
Claire met me in the lobby of a hotel three blocks away.
She had a leather folder, two associates, and a coffee she handed me without being asked.
"He called his mother," I said.
"I assumed he would." She opened the folder on the table between us.
"We need to move before Wendy has time to distance herself from the LLC.
I've already filed the injunction.
The next step is a formal complaint to the state attorney's office for document fraud."
"How long does that take?"
"The complaint, an hour.
The investigation, weeks.
But the filing freezes all related assets in the interim." She turned a page.
"Luca cannot touch your shares, transfer any interest, or act as a signatory on anything connected to your company until this is resolved."
I wrapped both hands around the coffee cup.
"He said I couldn't prove it."
"He said that because he's frightened." Claire looked at me over the top of her glasses.
"Frightened people say things that aren't true.
It's one of the more useful patterns in this work."
My phone buzzed on the table.
Wendy.
I looked at it.
Claire looked at it.
"Do you want to take that?" Claire asked.
"Not yet."
The call went to voicemail.
Thirty seconds later, a text appeared.
*Jessi.
I think there's been a terrible misunderstanding.
I'd like to sit down with you, just the two of us, and clear this up.
I'm sure we can find a solution that works for everyone.
Please call me.*
I turned the phone so Claire could read it.
Claire read it.
Set the phone back down.
"She's trying to negotiate."
"She's trying to find out what I know."
"Same thing." Claire closed the folder.
"Don't respond.
Not yet.
Let her sit with the silence." She paused.
"There's something else you should know.
My associate ran a background search on Carver-Venn LLC this morning.
The company has two directors.
Luca is one."
"And the other?"
"A man named Philip Venn.
He's a property developer.
He's also Wendy's brother."
I set the coffee down.
"So the LLC is Wendy, her brother, and Luca," I said.
"Incorporated eighteen months ago with a stated purpose of acquiring and managing equity assets." Claire's voice was completely even.
"Your company was valued at thirty-one million dollars at the time of incorporation."
Thirty-one million.
I had built it in nine years, starting from a second bedroom and a business loan I had taken out at twenty-six.
My father had co-signed that loan.
He had been gone four years and had never seen what it became.
"They researched me," I said.
"Thoroughly," Claire said.
"We found a consulting invoice in the LLC's early records.
A firm was paid to produce a full profile — your assets, your family structure, your relationship history, your psychological profile."
"A psychological profile."
"Traits that make someone easier to isolate.
Easier to control." Claire held my gaze.
"You lost your father.
You have no siblings.
Your closest relationship outside work was Phoebe.
Luca systematically targeted each of those things."
I thought about the eighteen months.
The small erosions.
The phone taken.
The wrist squeezed.
The way he had spoken about Phoebe at every opportunity, planting doubt, building a case, preparing the ground.
"He was following a plan," I said.
"From the beginning," Claire said.
My phone buzzed again.
Not Wendy this time.
A number I didn't recognize.
I answered it.
"Is this Jessi Carver?" A man's voice.
Careful, professional.
"Who is this?"
"My name is Detective Aaron Marsh.
I'm with the financial crimes unit.
I understand your attorney filed a document fraud complaint this morning." A pause.
"Ms.
Carver, we've been looking at Carver-Venn LLC for four months.
May you like
For reasons unrelated to you." Another pause.
"I think we should meet."
