Chapter 8 - The Ghost Investors
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I sat in the dark, dusty study, the flashlight beam illuminating the intercepted emails.
Trevor had written to the board of directors, stating that the birth of the twins had changed his priorities. He wanted to liquidate his 40% stake in Whitmore Holdings, take the cash, and move our family to the West Coast to start a new, quiet life.
It was the dream we had whispered about in the dark. The dream Victoria had listened to through the hidden microphones.
Beneath the emails, Victoria had attached a legal brief highlighting the consequences of Trevor’s request.
If a major shareholder like Trevor liquidated his assets and triggered a massive payout, federal regulators from the SEC would be legally required to conduct a comprehensive, deep-dive audit of the entire Whitmore family office to ensure corporate liquidity.
The realization hit me with the force of a physical blow.
An SEC audit would have immediately exposed the $50 million of Russian syndicate money Victoria was washing through the corporate accounts. The feds would have frozen the assets.
The Sokolovs wouldn't have hired lawyers if their $50 million was seized. They would have sent hitmen. They would have slaughtered Victoria and burned her empire to the ground.
I dropped the ledger onto the desk, clapping a hand over my mouth as a wave of agonizing nausea washed over me.
Victoria couldn't simply tell Trevor no; he had legal rights to his shares. She couldn't tell him the truth, or he would have gone to the authorities.
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She needed to stop him from selling the shares. She needed to plunge him into a grief so profound, so completely paralyzing, that he wouldn't be able to get out of bed, let alone orchestrate a massive corporate buyout.
My beautiful, innocent babies were murdered simply to prevent a financial audit.
