Chapter 10
“Without my consent?”
“Not necessarily.”
The qualification troubled me.
“Richard.”
“I need to be precise. The trust allowed the operating company to make ordinary business decisions. It did not allow the controlling interest to be sold without the beneficiary’s approval. But the transfer documents were written in a way that made the distinction difficult to see.”
“Who signed them?”
“Your name appears on one of the earlier approvals.”
My stomach tightened.
“I signed it?”
“You signed a consent authorizing a restructuring.”
“Was Dominic involved?”
“Not at that stage.”
“When did he become involved?”
Richard hesitated.
“Two years after you left the company.”
I searched through my memories.
Two years after I left the company, Dominic and I had been married for almost three years. His business was growing quickly then. He had begun buying neglected properties on the South Side and near the river, often describing them as long-term investments.
He had called it a new phase.
He had told me he was building something permanent.
I had believed him.
“Did he know about the holding company?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just told me he has benefited from it.”
“Benefit and knowledge are not the same thing.”
“But he would have had attorneys.”
“Of course.”
“Accountants.”
“Yes.”
“Board members.”
Richard looked at me.
“Evelyn, large companies can hide important truths in plain sight. A person may see the name of a subsidiary and never ask where its controlling interest originated. Or someone may assume a dormant company has no meaningful assets because its operating accounts are nearly empty.”
I thought of Dominic’s habits.
He remembered every contract, every acquisition price, every name on a guest list. He could recite the history of a building down to the original architect. He had always said that details were what separated serious businessmen from men who merely wanted to look successful.
The idea that he had overlooked something this significant seemed unlikely.
“Wouldn’t he have known my name was attached to it?”
“Your legal name was not on the public filings after the restructuring. The ownership was held through the trust.”
“Then how did you find this?”
“An audit.”
“Why was there an audit?”
Richard’s face changed slightly.
That was the first moment I realized he had not invited me to the gala only to honor old work.
“What happened?” I asked.
He glanced at Margaret, who had been standing nearby, giving us privacy without leaving.