Chapter 5 - The Debt Behind the Perfect House
The file contained twenty-three pages.
At first, I thought it was a business proposal.
Then I read the heading.
HERNDON RECOVERY STRATEGY
My company’s name appeared on the first page.
So did mine.
The documents outlined a plan to acquire Wellman Creative through marriage, financial pressure, forged contracts, and eventually a public scandal that would force my board to remove me.
There were lists of my clients.
My employees.
My vendors.
Private details about my finances.
Someone had even copied notes from meetings I had held inside my own office.
I sat in Detective Daniels’s office the next morning, staring at the pages.
“There’s a mole in my company,” I said.
“Possibly,” she replied. “Or someone accessed your systems remotely.”
“Gavin had access to my apartment. My laptop. My Wi-Fi.”
Daniels nodded. “We’re bringing in cybercrime investigators.”
Brianna sat beside me, wrapped in a blanket. She had spent the night at a domestic violence shelter under police protection. Every time someone entered the hallway, she flinched.
But she had agreed to talk.
“I didn’t know about Alyssa’s company at first,” Brianna said. “Not until Gavin started bringing documents home.”
“What did he say?”
“That you had money. That you were ‘the answer.’”
The words made me sick.
“Answer to what?”
Brianna looked down.
“The Herndons owe people money. A lot of money.”
Detective Daniels leaned forward. “Who?”
“I don’t know exactly. Elijah made investments that failed. But they borrowed from private lenders. Dangerous people.”
“Did Damian know?”
“Yes. He said Gavin was supposed to marry someone wealthy years ago, but it fell apart.” Brianna looked at me with guilt. “Then Gavin met you.”
I reached for her hand.
“This is not your fault.”
Her eyes filled.
“I tried to warn you.”
“You did.”
“I should have done more.”
“You survived,” I said. “That was enough.”
Over the next week, the picture became clearer.
Elijah had lost millions in a failed real estate scheme. Naomi had helped hide debts by moving money through charities and shell companies. Gavin had become the family’s solution: marry someone with assets, take control of her finances, then use her business as collateral.
Brianna had discovered the plan after overhearing Elijah and Gavin arguing.
Damian had beaten her when she tried to leave.
Naomi had made her stay.
And Gavin had selected me with the patience of a predator.
When I thought back to the beginning of our relationship, I saw details differently.
How quickly he had asked about my company.
How often he offered to “help” with my books.
How he encouraged me to separate from friends who “didn’t understand our future.”
How he made me feel guilty whenever I worked late.
It had never been romance.
It had been research.
Then the police uncovered something worse.
A forged power-of-attorney document had been prepared in my name.
It would have granted Gavin full authority over my personal and business finances after the wedding.
The signature was nearly perfect.
Nearly.
My attorney Helen spotted the flaw immediately.
“The date format is wrong,” she said. “Alyssa always writes the month first, then the day. Whoever made this copied her signature but didn’t understand her habits.”
The fact that such a small detail had protected me made my hands shake.
They had come so close.
Not just to stealing my company.
To erasing me from it.
But the Herndons had not expected one thing.
My employees loved me.
When investigators informed our executive team about the breach, my operations director, Marcus Lee, immediately identified the source. A junior IT contractor had accepted money to install spyware on my work laptop.
He was arrested two days later.
The relief was short-lived.
Because that same evening, Brianna disappeared from the shelter.
Her bed was empty.
Her phone was left behind.
And on the pillow was a single note.
May you like
STOP TALKING, OR SHE DIES.
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