Page 87 of Until You (Forgive Me)

“Thank you,” she said as Christian led them both to the door.

Maybe going out was exactly what she needed.

Chapter Thirty-eight

Christian

Christian had held his temper as Isabella told him about Pierce stealing from her trust fund. Pierce had been Dominic’s friend, and that meant something, or at least it should have. Their friendship was like his and Sebastian’s. They’d been friends for years, had each other’s backs. Pierce should have had Isabella’s by default, although Christian was starting to wonder if, the triggering of the clause in Dominic’s will, Isabella’s engagement to his son, everything, had been all part of some warped plan to get hold of Dominic’s money and Isabella’s trust fund. If it hadn’t been proven that Dominic’s death had been a tragic accident... The man driving had a fatal heart attack at the wheel of the car... No, he had to stop thinking like that. Getting wrapped up in his fury at how Isabella had been treated by the people who were supposed to love and care for her the most made him sick. But then that made him a complete hypocrite. He had done exactly the same thing to Lily. As penance, he would help sort out Isabella’s problems and enable her to return to the life she loved so much.

“Tobias Grant is on line one,” Lucy said.

“Thank you, Lucy,” Christian said, clicking the button and connecting with Toby.

“Hi Toby, any news?”

It had been a week since Toby and Isabella had visited White and Partners. Christian had spoken to Toby the next day, with Isabella present, and they were all currently on a fact-gathering mission. It was a lot of money for one man to have stolen. It was a mystery as to what he had done with it.

“Hi, Christian. I’ve just spoken to Isabella, and she asked me to fill you in.”

“What’s the latest?” Christian said, sitting back in his chair.

“I have spoken to White and Partners. The money was transferred to several accounts. It looks like Mr Danvers was paid a share, which we had all assumed would be the case. There had to be something in it for him to get him to sign the papers. That portion, however, is relatively small in comparison. About eight million. A million per transactional year.”

“Okay, so we are saying Pierce took the rest?”

“It looks that way. What makes it trickier? It looks like an account was set up in Isabella’s name. I have my private investigator looking into the account as we speak. Isabella says it is not an account she recognises. The PI and Isabella will be visiting the bank and seeing what information they can glean. Pierce wanted to make it look like Isabella had requested the money and that it had been paid to her. We just need to follow the trail, although I’m not sure how easy that will be if it was taken off-shore.”

“Is there money in the account now?” Christian asked.

“Until Isabella can get access to the account and prove she is its rightful owner, it’s hard to tell. My gut tells me the money will have been sent here and moved directly out.”

“Keep me informed. I have been looking into King and Lebroc Group’s finances. There have been rumours of bad business decisions since Dominic’s death, but nothing ever materialised, other than rumours.”

“Are you thinking Pierce used Isabella’s money to cover up bad business decisions?”

“It’s a possibility. Edward became CFO on Dominic’s death, while Pierce took over Dominic’s role as CEO. Dominic was the driving force behind the company. He had an amazing business brain. He helped me a lot in the early days. Gave me some great advice.”

Christian’s memory went back to a time when he was no longer even speaking to his own father. Instead, he had turned to Dominic.

“If that’s the case, then Isabella needs to decide what she wants to do. She is a majority shareholder in the company. King and Lebroc Group is her legacy. She was telling me how she had done her placement there, learning from her father. She’d had every intention of going into the business before her father’s death. She may still have done it had it not been for the press scandal. You may want to talk to her, Christian. If Pierce has stolen her money and invested it in the company to keep it afloat...”

Christian ran a hand over his head and down his face. Whatever the outcome, this was not looking good. Pierce was the CEO of the group, and he had stolen funds. Whether it was to reinvest or not. He could not stay at the head of the company. Could Edward take over and step into his father’s shoes? After his treatment of Isabella, Christian’s muscles quivered at the sheer thought. There was no way Edward was innocent if his father was guilty. As CFO, he would have had to have known where the money was coming from.

“I’ll speak to her. Isabella leads a very different life now, but this was her father’s business, after all. She is going to have to make some hard decisions whether she goes public or not.”

“You’ve changed, Christian,” Toby said.

“No. I haven’t changed. I’ve just made sure, no one other than myself will ever have a say or control over my life. I want to ensure the same for Isabella. She needs to have options that allow her to live the life she chooses, not one that is thrust upon her.”

There was silence for a moment before Toby added, “She’s lucky to have you in her corner.”

“I’m the lucky one,” Christian added. “Thank you, Toby. I’ll speak to Isabella.”

Toby ended the call, leaving Christian staring at the phone. Picking it back up, he dialled Seb’s extension.

“Hey, Stranger,” Seb said, his lighthearted nature coming through the line.

“Are you free?” Christian asked.

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