Chapter 4

Nine in the morning. At this exact hour, Russell and I were supposed to be walking down the aisle.

But I was already dressed for something else, seated in the conference room.

Russell stormed in with Crystal beside him, furious.

"Eleanor! There's not a single guest at the venue. Even you, the bride, are gone."

"What kind of game are you playing, calling a shareholders' meeting!"

I didn't so much as lift my eyes.

"The wedding's off. That eighty-eight thousand went into a company project."

When I did look up, I saw the diamond ring on Crystal's finger.

She hurried to pull it off.

"Eleanor, I'm so sorry. We finished so late last night, I didn't get the chance to return it to you."

"Don't cancel the wedding because of me. I'll be out of your life right away."

Russell gripped her hand tightly.

"Don't go. Actually, since all the shareholders are here, there's something I want to announce too."

He took out a share-transfer agreement.

"I'm transferring five percent of my shares to Crystal. She has the right to sit here as well."

I cut him off and spread out several documents.

"These are the company's current projects. All of them have stalled."

"Once the funds were pulled out, there wasn't enough cash to keep them running."

Russell slammed the bills from his pocket onto the table.

"At the end of it, this is still about me and Crystal."

"No project stalls over a mere five point two million."

Crystal rose to her feet, her eyes brimming with tears.

"This is all my fault. I'll leave right now, and I'll refund the cost of the island wedding."

Russell gestured for her to calm down.

"This has nothing to do with you. Eleanor's just carrying her personal feelings into work."

I couldn't be bothered to explain further and switched on the projector.

Once the five point two million was pulled out, the projects came to a halt.

Some of them had even lost the clients' trust, which meant penalty fees on top of everything.

"Every one of these transfers was signed off personally by Mr. Simmons."

Russell clearly hadn't expected it to blow up this badly. His face changed in an instant.

"Which project hasn't had its little problems before? Are you telling me you bear no responsibility at all?"

I nodded.

"You're right. I do bear responsibility."

I handed him a document folder. Every shareholder had a copy of the same material.

"Over the years the projects ran up plenty of shortfalls, and in the end I covered them all out of my own pocket."

"I should reflect on that. I shouldn't have filled so many of Mr. Simmons's holes for him."

"So I sent every last one of those old accounts to the legal department."

Russell stared at me in disbelief. The auditor stood, and his tone was grave.

"After Ms. Cox withdrew her private funds, Mr. Simmons's projects ran at a loss, and on top of that he misappropriated company funds."

"All of it added up... he owes the company twenty million dollars!"

The words had barely landed when Russell's face went white as a sheet.