The First Assignment
1061 Words
Elena arrived at the Sinclair Group office at nine the next morning. Maxwell was already at his desk, going through a stack of documents. He looked up when she walked in and pointed to the chair across from him.
"Sit down," he said. "We don't have much time before Julian starts noticing you're gone."
Elena sat down. "I told my mother I'm staying with a friend for a few days. Julian won't question that. He's too busy with the board this week."
Maxwell slid a folder across the desk. "This is everything I have on the shell company under Camille's name. I need you to look through it and tell me if any of these names mean something to you."
Elena opened the folder. Inside were bank transfer records, company registration papers, and a list of names connected to the account. Most of the names meant nothing to her, but one caught her attention: Richard Voss, the family lawyer who had handled Julian's estate planning for the past five years.
"Richard Voss," Elena said. "He's been our family lawyer since before I married Julian. He handles everything, wills, trusts, business contracts."
"That confirms what I suspected," Maxwell said. "Voss set up the shell company. He's the one moving the money, not Camille directly. Your sister is just the name on the paperwork."
Elena frowned. "Why would Voss help Julian steal from his own company?"
"Because Voss isn't just a lawyer for the Ashford family," Maxwell said. "He also works for the board's audit committee. If he controls both sides, he can hide the fraud from whoever might come looking, including regulators."
Elena closed the folder. "So this isn't just Julian and Camille. This is bigger than an affair."
"Much bigger," Maxwell said. "And that's why I need to know how much Julian actually understands about what Voss is doing. Does he know the full extent of it, or is he being used the same way Camille is?"
Elena thought about it. "Julian isn't smart enough to manage something like this on his own. He's good at giving speeches and shaking hands, but he's never handled the technical side of the business. Voss has always managed the paperwork."
"Then we need proof that Julian at least knew enough to sign off on it," Maxwell said. "If he's just being used, this changes how far we can push him. If he's willingly involved, it makes the case against him much stronger."
Elena's phone buzzed. It was another message from Camille.
I need to talk to you in person. Not over text. Please, Elena. I'm not lying about being scared.
Elena showed the message to Maxwell. He read it and set the phone down.
"Are you going to meet her?" he asked.
"I don't know yet," Elena said. "Part of me wants to hear what she has to say. Part of me doesn't trust anything that comes out of her mouth anymore."
"If you meet her, you might get information we can't get any other way," Maxwell said. "She's inside the situation. She knows things neither of us can access from the outside."
"And if it's a trap?" Elena asked. "If Julian sent her to find out what I know?"
"Then we'll know Julian is more involved than we think," Maxwell said. "Either way, we learn something."
Elena sat quietly for a moment, turning the phone over in her hand. "I'll meet her. But somewhere public. And I want you nearby, in case something happens."
Maxwell nodded. "I'll have someone outside the location. You won't be alone."
Elena texted Camille back, agreeing to meet at a small cafe two blocks from the Sinclair building at noon. She looked up at Maxwell.
"Before I go," she said, "I want to know something. You said this is personal for you. What did Julian's family actually do to yours?"
Maxwell was quiet for a moment. He walked to the window and looked out at the city before answering.
"My father used to run a small manufacturing company," Maxwell said. "Twenty years ago, Julian's father was one of his biggest clients. When my father's company hit a rough year, Julian's father offered to buy in as a partner to help keep it running. Within two years, he had control of the majority shares. He forced my father out, restructured the company, and sold off everything my father built. My father lost the business, the house, and most of his savings. He died five years later, still trying to rebuild something out of nothing."
Elena stared at him. "I didn't know any of that."
"Most people don't," Maxwell said. "Julian's family made sure the story stayed quiet. I've spent the last fifteen years building enough money and power to make sure it happens to them instead."
Elena stood up, holding the folder Maxwell had given her. "Then we both have a reason to see this through."
"We do," Maxwell said. "Just be careful with Camille. Whatever she tells you, don't let her see how much we already know."
Elena nodded and left the office. As she walked toward the cafe, she thought about Richard Voss, about her sister's message, and about the version of Julian she thought she knew for eight years, a version that might never have been real at all. She reached the cafe five minutes early and took a seat near the back, facing the door.
At exactly noon, Camille walked in. She looked thinner than Elena remembered, and her hands were shaking as she sat down across from her.
"Thank you for coming," Camille said. "I didn't know who else to talk to."
Elena kept her expression steady. "Talk to me about what, Camille?"
Camille glanced around the cafe before leaning in and lowering her voice. "Julian isn't just cheating with me, Elena. He's planning something with Richard Voss, something involving the company's money and my name on paperwork I didn't fully understand when I signed it. Two nights ago, I heard them talking about moving me somewhere else once the baby is born, somewhere far from here. I think they're planning to make me disappear once I've served my purpose."
Elena felt her stomach tighten. "Disappear how?"
Before Camille could answer, her phone rang. She looked at the screen, and her face went pale.
"It's Julian," she whispered. "He knows I'm not at home."
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