Chapter 4 - Project Monarch
Charles Wexler had not always been Vivian’s enemy.
Once, he had been family.
Not by blood.
By ambition.
Vivian met Charles when she was twenty-four and working sixty-hour weeks at a struggling Los Angeles logistics firm. Barry was a salesman there. Charles ran finance.
The three of them became inseparable.
When the company collapsed, they started Crestview together.
Vivian had forgotten how hungry they all were in those days.
How they ate takeout on the floor because they could not afford conference chairs.
How Barry slept under his desk during the first expansion.
How Charles could calculate cash flow in his head faster than most accountants could do it with a spreadsheet.
For five years, Crestview grew.
Then Vivian discovered Charles had been moving client funds into side investments.
When she confronted him, he called it temporary liquidity management.
Vivian called it theft.
The board removed him.
Charles lost millions.
He blamed Vivian.
Barry testified against him.
At least Vivian had thought he had.
Seventeen years later, Charles Wexler had returned through Laurel.
The investigators found Project Monarch on an encrypted drive linked to Laurel’s office computer.
By dawn, Vivian had not slept.
She sat in a conference room at Crestview’s San Francisco headquarters while forensic accountants opened files one by one.
Project Monarch was not a single transaction.
It was a blueprint.
Step one: weaken Vivian’s authority.
Step two: isolate her from key executives.
Step three: redirect liquidity into entities that could later be used to purchase distressed Crestview shares.
Step four: create a marital crisis.
Step five: force Vivian to sign a postnuptial restructuring agreement.
Step six: remove her from operational control.
And then came a phrase that made everyone in the room go silent.
Permanent incapacity contingency.
Vivian stared at the screen.
“What does that mean?”
No one answered immediately.
Malcolm finally said, “We don’t know.”
Vivian did.
She thought of the second substance Laurel had purchased.
The fifty-million-dollar policy.
The sedative.
The investigator Laurel had questioned.
Zachary sat beside her, exhausted.
“Mom.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
Vivian looked at him.
He was right.
But she did not have time to fall apart.
Not yet.
Donald entered carrying coffee.
“They found Peter.”
Vivian stood.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Her knees nearly weakened.
“Where?”
“A motel south of San Jose.”
“Why didn’t he call?”
“He was scared.”
Peter agreed to meet them under police supervision.
Two hours later, Vivian walked into a private hospital room where Crestview’s former chief financial officer sat with his hands trembling around a paper cup.
He looked twenty years older than he had the previous week.
“Vivian.”
She stopped near the door.
Peter’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry.”
Vivian said nothing.
“I never knew about the poison.”
“Tell me what you did know.”
Peter looked toward the detective.
Then began.
Two years earlier, Barry had instructed Peter to create several confidential accounts for what he described as strategic acquisitions.
Laurel supplied the paperwork.
At first, every transfer had supporting documents.
Then the transfers increased.
Five million.
Eight million.
Eleven million.
Peter questioned Barry.
Barry became angry.
“He told me you were blocking expansion,” Peter said. “He said you were emotionally unstable. He said he needed flexibility because the marriage might not survive.”
Vivian looked down.
Barry had been preparing people to distrust her long before Laurel stole the dress.
“What about Charles?”
Peter swallowed.
“Laurel introduced me to him six months ago.”
“Did Barry know?”
Peter hesitated.
“Yes.”
That single word hurt more than Vivian expected.
“Barry met him?”
“Twice.”
Donald cursed.
Vivian stayed still.
“What did they discuss?”
“Barry believed Charles had investors who could help Crestview acquire several struggling technology firms.”
“And Charles?”
“Charles wanted control.”
“Did Barry know that?”
“Not at first.”
“Later?”
Peter’s silence answered.
Vivian walked to the window.
The city looked normal below.
People drove to work.
Coffee shops opened.
Children went to school.
And Vivian’s entire life was collapsing inside one sterile hospital room.
Peter continued.
“Barry thought he could outsmart Charles.”
Vivian laughed softly.
“Barry always thinks that.”
“He agreed to move assets temporarily. Laurel managed communication. Then Charles began threatening to expose the transfers.”
“So Barry was trapped.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
Peter looked ashamed.
“Because Charles had proof of the affair.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
There it was.
Barry had risked Crestview to protect his reputation.
Not the company.
Not his family.
Himself.
Peter reached for a small flash drive.
“There’s something else.”
The detective took it.
Peter looked directly at Vivian.
“Laurel recorded everything.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
“Against Barry?”
“Against everyone.”
The flash drive contained hundreds of audio files.
Barry arguing with Laurel.
Charles threatening Barry.
Peter begging them to stop moving money.
And one recording that made Vivian feel physically ill.
Laurel’s voice.
“If she refuses to sign, we increase the dose.”
Another voice responded.
Charles.
“Not enough to kill her.”
“Of course not.”
“You make her confused. Forgetful. Tired. We need doctors saying she can’t manage corporate affairs.”
Then Laurel laughed.
“And Barry?”
Charles answered.
“Barry will sign anything once he thinks the company is slipping away.”
Vivian stopped the recording.
Zachary stood so abruptly his chair fell backward.
“I’m going to kill him.”
Vivian grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“Mom, he—”
“No.”
“He wanted to poison you!”
“Charles did.”
“And Laurel.”
“Yes.”
“Dad let them into our lives!”
Vivian looked into her son’s furious eyes.
“That is something he will have to live with.”
Zachary pulled away.
Before anyone could speak again, Vivian’s phone rang.
Barry.
She stared at his name.
Then answered.
“What?”
His voice sounded strained.
“You need to leave the office.”
“Why?”
“Because Charles knows you found Project Monarch.”
Vivian’s heart accelerated.
“How do you know?”
“Because he called me.”
Barry inhaled sharply.
“Vivian, whatever you think of me, listen to me now.”
A pause.
“Charles isn’t trying to steal Crestview anymore.”
“What is he trying to do?”
Barry’s next words came almost as a whisper.
“He’s trying to burn it down.”
The lights inside Crestview headquarters suddenly went out.
May you like
Someone screamed in the hallway.
Then the fire alarm began.
