Chapter 5 - BOARDROOM AMBUSH
Sienna turned her head sharply toward her attorney. "What secret accounts?"
Victoria opened a second, thicker black folder and laid a series of banking flowcharts across the mahogany table.
"When you called me last night, I immediately retained Marcus Vance," Victoria explained. "Marcus is a former forensic investigator for the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. He spent the last eight hours running deep-tier sweeps through Christian’s social security number and corporate tax filings."
Victoria tapped a red line on the spreadsheet.
"Every month, for the past four years, Christian has been receiving a modest salary of forty-two thousand dollars from an environmental consulting firm where he claimed to work thirty hours a week. But that wasn't his only source of income."
"Christian doesn't have other clients," Sienna said, her brow furrowing. "He spent most of his days playing golf, networking at private clubs, and bragging about his investments."
"He didn't have other clients," Victoria agreed. "He had a siphon. For the past three years, Christian has been running a phantom shell company registered in Delaware called 'Apex Horizon Logistics.' And do you know who has been writing checks to Apex Horizon Logistics, Sienna?"
Sienna’s heart hammered against her ribs. "Who?"
"Your company. Meridian Global."
Sienna felt the air leave her lungs as if she had been struck in the solar plexus. "What are you talking about? I oversee Project Operations. I approve every major enterprise vendor contract!"
"You approve the *Tier-One* infrastructure contracts," Victoria corrected. "Apex Horizon was registered as a Tier-Four micro-vendor for regional logistics and site staging. Their invoices were kept intentionally under forty-nine thousand dollars each—the exact threshold that allows junior regional managers to sign off without executive board oversight."
"Who approved them?" Sienna whispered, her voice dangerously quiet.
"A man named Bradley Cooper. A senior procurement manager in your Phoenix division." Victoria leaned forward. "Over thirty-six months, Apex Horizon billed Meridian Global for one point four million dollars in completely fictitious staging supplies. And the bank accounts for Apex Horizon? They are controlled exclusively by Christian Mercer."
Sienna closed her eyes for three long seconds.
The betrayal ran deeper than she had ever imagined. Christian hadn't just used her credit cards and demanded cash for his mother; he had crawled into the corporate machinery of her own company, using her reputation and his proximity to her to siphon off corporate capital like a common thief.
If Meridian’s internal audit committee discovered this before she did, Sienna wouldn't just face a messy divorce. She could be implicated in corporate embezzlement. Her career, her reputation, and her freedom would be destroyed.
"Bradley Cooper," Sienna said, opening her eyes. All trace of emotion was gone. Only pure, glacial calculation remained.
"He’s in the building right now," Victoria noted, glancing at her diamond watch. "His department has a quarterly review at 10:00 AM."
Sienna stood up. She smoothed the fabric of her tailored charcoal Armani suit, adjusted her cuffs, and picked up the audit folder.
"Victoria, call Marcus Vance. Have him wait in my office with the complete forensic paper trail."
"And what are you going to do?" Victoria asked.
Sienna looked toward the glass window overlooking the downtown core.
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"I’m going to show Christian Mercer what happens when you try to play corporate games with a woman who built the board."
***