Chapter 10 - CHARLES WELLES
Charles's office door was unlocked.
His receptionist had gone home.
The conference room lights were on.
Charles sat alone at the end of the table with blood dried at the corner of his mouth.
Detective Reed moved first.
"What happened?"
Charles gave a humorless laugh.
"Your suspect finally decided I'm expendable."
"Vanessa?"
He nodded.
She had come twenty minutes earlier demanding documents.
When he refused, she struck him with a marble desk accessory and took a file.
He had not called police.
"Why not?" Reed asked.
"Because the file proves I committed crimes."
At least he had finally stopped pretending.
Charles requested counsel before giving a formal statement, but he told us enough voluntarily to change the case.
Vantage Meridian began as a legitimate consultancy used by my father to manage politically sensitive development negotiations.
Charles structured it.
Vanessa worked for one of Vantage's subcontractors.
She learned how money moved.
Then fraudulent invoices began appearing.
Charles discovered them.
Instead of reporting Vanessa, he used her.
He had debts of his own and had already crossed ethical lines protecting my father's business.
Together, they inflated invoices, routed funds through shell companies, and concealed the transactions behind legitimate vendor work.
"How much?" I asked.
"Over five years? About four-point-three million."
Nathan sank into a chair.
I felt strangely calm.
"Did Olivia discover it?"
"Yes."
"Did you threaten her?"
"I told her to stop."
"Did Vanessa threaten her?"
Charles looked away.
"Yes."
"Did either of you cause her crash?"
"No."
Reed cut in.
"Be careful."
"I'm telling you the truth. I helped steal money. I obstructed the bank notice. I helped Vanessa manipulate Nathan. I did not kill Olivia."
"Why block the bank?"
"Because I knew what she had placed there."
"How?"
"Your father told me."
Another wound.
Robert had discovered enough before his death to realize Olivia had created an insurance policy.
But instead of exposing Charles, he tried to force repayment quietly to avoid scandal.
Charles used that hesitation.
Vanessa used everyone.
"What file did Vanessa take tonight?" I asked.
Charles stared at me.
"Your estate plan."
I almost laughed.
"I have copies."
"Not that version."
He told me that six weeks earlier Vanessa had brought him a proposed amendment transferring temporary voting authority over my Carter Development shares to her if I became incapacitated.
He refused to notarize it.
"So she has an unsigned draft."
Charles shook his head.
"She has a version with your signature."
I hadn't signed one.
He knew that.
"Then it's forged."
"Probably."
"Probably?"
Charles swallowed.
"The witness signature is Nathan's."
Nathan stood.
"I never witnessed it."
Charles looked at him.
"I know."
May you like
Someone was building a paper trail designed to make it appear that my own brother had helped Vanessa take control of my company.
📖 The forged estate amendment looked like Vanessa's endgame, until a board email showed she had already used it before I knew it existed. 👇
