Chapter 2 - Thirteen Minutes Until Six
Nathan tried to recover his smile.
Victoria watched him attempt it.
The transformation was almost impressive.
One second he looked frightened.
The next, his familiar confidence returned.
“Nothing happens at six,” he said.
Victoria glanced at his phone.
“Then why are you nervous?”
“I’m not nervous.”
“Your hand is shaking.”
Nathan shoved the phone into his pocket.
Behind them, the party had fractured into uncomfortable groups. Conversations had restarted, but the mood had changed.
Nathan noticed.
That mattered to him.
Appearances always mattered.
He stepped closer to Victoria.
“Can we please go inside?”
“No.”
“Victoria.”
“I’m enjoying your birthday party.”
His jaw tightened.
“You’re soaking wet.”
“You noticed.”
Nathan lowered his voice.
“I apologized.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I said it was a joke.”
“That isn't an apology.”
Nathan looked toward the guests again.
“Fine. I'm sorry.”
Victoria waited.
Nathan exhaled.
“Happy?”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
The man who had charmed boardrooms and country clubs was beginning to disappear.
“Reverse the freeze.”
“No.”
“Just for twenty minutes.”
That caught her attention.
“Why twenty?”
Nathan realized his mistake.
He looked away.
Victoria’s phone vibrated.
A security notification appeared from Vance Meridian.
UNUSUAL AUTHORIZATION ATTEMPT BLOCKED.
She opened it.
Someone had attempted to transfer $2.4 million from an investment liquidity account seven minutes earlier.
Nathan was listed as the requesting signatory.
Victoria slowly lifted her eyes.
“You tried to move $2.4 million.”
Nathan went still.
“It's business.”
“Whose business?”
“Ours.”
“I don't have a business requiring $2.4 million at 5:40 on Saturday afternoon.”
Nathan rubbed his forehead.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“It’s complicated.”
“I manage investments for a living. Try me.”
Nathan stared at her.
Victoria could see calculations moving behind his eyes.
Finally he said, “Elliot found a property opportunity.”
“What property?”
“A commercial redevelopment.”
“Where?”
“Downtown.”
“Which city?”
Nathan hesitated.
That was enough.
Victoria pulled her phone out again.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling my CFO.”
Nathan reached toward her phone.
Victoria stepped back.
“Don't touch me.”
The sentence was quiet.
But something in her voice stopped him instantly.
Several guests looked over.
Nathan lowered his hand.
Victoria called Daniel Reeves, chief financial officer of Vance Meridian Capital.
He answered almost immediately.
“Victoria?”
“Daniel, I need you to check something.”
“Of course.”
“Was Nathan authorized to transfer $2.4 million today?”
Silence.
“No.”
Nathan’s expression changed.
Daniel continued.
“He attempted an emergency withdrawal earlier. Compliance flagged it because the destination account was recently created.”
Victoria looked directly at Nathan.
“Destination?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Northstar Strategic Holdings.”
Nathan turned away.
Victoria had never heard the name.
“Who owns Northstar?”
“We’re checking.”
Nathan interrupted.
“Victoria, hang up.”
She ignored him.
“Daniel, lock every account Nathan has ever had authorization to access.”
“I can do that.”
“And preserve every attempted transaction.”
“Already happening.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“Daniel, this is Nathan. Do not—”
Victoria ended the call.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Nathan said, “You have no idea what you've done.”
Victoria looked at the time.
5:52.
Eight minutes.
“Tell me.”
Nathan ran both hands through his hair.
“This deal matters.”
“To whom?”
“To me.”
Finally.
A truthful answer.
“What did you promise them?”
Nathan’s silence returned.
Victoria felt cold despite the warm evening.
The wet gown was only part of it.
“Nathan.”
He looked at her.
“What did you promise?”
Before he could answer, Elliot Mercer appeared through the side gate.
Victoria knew Elliot.
Forty-two.
Expensive suits.
Permanent tan.
The kind of man who shook hands while looking over your shoulder for someone richer.
Tonight, he looked terrified.
He crossed the patio quickly.
“Nathan.”
Nathan immediately moved toward him.
“Not here.”
Elliot noticed Victoria.
His face changed.
“Victoria.”
“Elliot.”
He looked at her soaked dress.
Then at Nathan.
“What happened?”
“Birthday joke,” Victoria said.
Elliot didn't laugh.
He pulled Nathan aside.
Victoria could not hear everything.
But she heard enough.
“…money didn't arrive…”
“…already signed…”
“…six o'clock…”
Then one sentence clearly.
“You told them Victoria approved it.”
Victoria’s heartbeat slowed.
Nathan saw her watching.
He grabbed Elliot’s arm.
“Inside. Now.”
Victoria stepped between them and the house.
“What did I approve?”
Elliot froze.
Nathan answered quickly.
“Nothing.”
Victoria looked at Elliot.
“Did Nathan use my name?”
Elliot looked at Nathan.
That hesitation was an answer.
Victoria raised her phone.
“I can call my attorney, or you can answer me.”
Elliot swallowed.
“The financing.”
“What financing?”
Nathan muttered, “Elliot, shut up.”
Victoria didn't look away from him.
Elliot seemed to understand that Nathan could no longer protect him.
“The acquisition financing.”
“For Northstar?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Elliot hesitated.
“Twenty-eight million.”
Victoria stared at him.
Nathan said quickly, “It's not what it sounds like.”
Victoria almost admired the absurdity.
“What exactly does unauthorized financing for twenty-eight million dollars sound like?”
Elliot looked miserable.
“Victoria, I thought you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That Nathan had pledged additional collateral.”
The world around Victoria seemed to become quieter.
“What collateral?”
Elliot looked toward the mansion.
Victoria followed his eyes.
Her house.
“No,” she whispered.
Nathan stepped forward.
“It’s temporary.”
Victoria turned on him.
“You pledged this house?”
“Technically, the holding company—”
“The holding company I funded.”
Nathan's voice sharpened.
“We’re married.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“You weren't using the liquidity!”
Victoria stared at him.
There it was.
The entitlement beneath everything.
Money Victoria had earned became money Nathan believed he deserved simply because he could see it.
“What else?”
“Nothing.”
Elliot looked down.
Victoria noticed.
“What else, Elliot?”
Nathan snapped, “Enough.”
Victoria stepped toward Elliot.
“What else?”
Elliot answered quietly.
“The Hamptons property.”
Victoria closed her eyes briefly.
The beach house had belonged to her before Nathan.
Her father had spent his final summer there.
“What else?”
“The Aspen residence.”
Nathan said, “Those properties aren't gone.”
“You pledged them without permission.”
“It was a bridge arrangement.”
Victoria checked the time.
5:56.
Four minutes.
“What happens at six?”
Neither man answered.
Victoria turned toward Elliot.
He broke first.
“The escrow deadline.”
“What happens if the money doesn't arrive?”
Elliot swallowed.
“We lose the acquisition.”
Nathan interrupted.
“And the deposit.”
“How much?”
Elliot looked at Nathan.
“How much?” Victoria repeated.
“Five million.”
Victoria stared at her husband.
Nathan's face had gone pale.
“Whose five million?”
Nathan said nothing.
Victoria already knew.
“Mine.”
“It came from the joint investment account.”
“Funded by?”
Nathan looked away.
Victoria laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the scale of his arrogance had finally become impossible to absorb any other way.
Her phone showed 5:58.
Nathan stepped toward her.
“Victoria, listen to me. Unlock the transfer. Two minutes. That's all I need.”
“No.”
“You'll lose five million dollars.”
“You already lost it.”
His eyes widened.
“We can save it!”
“At the cost of another twenty-eight million?”
“You don't understand the upside!”
“I understand unauthorized leverage.”
Nathan’s voice rose.
“This is why nobody can live with you! Everything is control, control, control!”
The patio became quiet again.
Victoria looked around.
Dozens of faces.
Some embarrassed.
Some curious.
Some holding phones.
Nathan pointed toward her.
“I have spent six years being treated like some employee who needs permission from you!”
Victoria stared at him.
“You spent six years living on money you didn't earn.”
Nathan’s face turned red.
The clock on her phone changed.
5:59.
Elliot whispered, “Nathan.”
Nathan looked at Victoria.
“Please.”
That word surprised her.
She had rarely heard him use it.
Victoria held his gaze.
For one moment, she remembered the man she had married.
The man who once waited outside her office with takeout because she had worked until midnight.
The man who made her laugh during the hardest year of her career.
Perhaps part of him had been real.
But that man had made choices.
Again and again.
And choices eventually became character.
6:00 p.m.
Nathan’s phone rang.
Nobody moved.
He answered.
“Hello?”
Victoria watched his face.
His shoulders dropped.
“What?”
A pause.
“No, wait. We can still—”
Another pause.
Nathan closed his eyes.
The call ended.
Elliot whispered, “It's gone?”
Nathan didn't answer.
Victoria knew.
The acquisition had collapsed.
The five-million-dollar deposit was gone.
Nathan slowly looked at his wife.
Hatred flashed across his face.
“This is your fault.”
Victoria stared at him.
Then she realized something.
Nathan genuinely believed it.
He had secretly risked her assets.
Used her name.
Attempted to move millions without permission.
And when she stopped him, he blamed her.
Victoria turned toward the house.
Nathan followed.
“Where are you going?”
“To change.”
“And then?”
Victoria stopped.
“To find out what else you've done.”
Nathan’s expression shifted.
Just slightly.
But she saw it.
More fear.
Which meant there was more.
Victoria walked inside.
Nathan called after her.
“Victoria!”
She didn't turn.
Because the birthday joke was over.
The financial betrayal had just begun.
May you like
And before midnight, Victoria would discover that Nathan had not merely gambled with her money.
He had been preparing for a future in which she was no longer supposed to control any of it.
