Chapter 2 - The Phantom Payee
The security guards paused, looking to Richard for confirmation. Richard’s jaw clenched, a micro-expression of pure panic flashing across his stoic face.
"Eight years ago," Aaliyah began, her voice steady and commanding, "Peter Hall came to my restaurant in Savannah. He handed me a letter with Caleb's forged signature and offered me two hundred thousand dollars in cash to sign a non-disclosure agreement and terminate my pregnancy."
A collective gasp swept through the three hundred guests. Caleb staggered backward, looking at his father in absolute horror. "You told her to terminate them? My children?"
"She's lying, Caleb!" Richard snapped, his composure slipping. "She's an opportunist! A grifter looking for a payout!"
"I refused the money," Aaliyah continued, completely ignoring Richard’s outburst. "I threw Peter Hall out of my kitchen. But that didn't stop you, did it, Richard?"
She walked halfway up the altar steps, holding up the dossier.
"When my aunt died, I found the letters Caleb had sent me—the letters your people had intercepted and hidden. It proved Caleb hadn't abandoned me. So, I hired a private intelligence firm to look into Peter Hall and the two hundred thousand dollars."
She opened the folder, pulling out a bank ledger printed on heavy stock paper.
"You see, Richard didn't just forge Caleb's signature. He forged mine. He executed the non-disclosure agreement without my knowledge. But he didn't log a two-hundred-thousand-dollar payout in the Whitmore Hospitality corporate ledgers."
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Aaliyah looked directly at Madeline’s father.
"He logged a four-million-dollar payout to a 'crisis management' shell company in the Cayman Islands, citing my name as the extortionist payee. He used my pregnancy to embezzle four million dollars from his own shareholders, pocketing the difference to cover his margin calls."
