Chapter 4 - Two Companies
Olivia cried for twenty minutes before telling the truth.
Not all of it.
Just enough to make the next lie harder.
Northline Procurement, she admitted, was hers.
She had created it eleven months earlier after Grant told her Carter Ridge needed someone to coordinate furniture purchases.
“Why hide your name?” I asked.
She stared at the floor.
“Grant said investors would think it looked bad if I had two contracts.”
“Investors?”
I nearly smiled.
“There are three investors. Me, Grant, and Tom.”
Tom Carter’s head jerked up.
Grant looked away.
Tom said, “What?”
I turned.
“You invested?”
Diane stared at her husband.
“You told me you loaned Grant fifty thousand.”
Tom swallowed.
“It became more.”
“How much?”
“Eighty-five.”
Diane sat down.
Another marriage developing cracks in my office.
Grant rubbed his face.
“This is getting out of control.”
I looked at him.
“No. It was out of control. Now it’s becoming visible.”
My father almost smiled.
Almost.
Rachel remained on speaker.
She asked Olivia to explain Northline’s work.
Olivia said it purchased furniture, lighting, and fixtures.
“Markup?”
“Ten percent.”
Rachel asked, “Invoices?”
Grant interrupted.
“We have them.”
“Then provide them.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“Monday.”
“Today.”
Grant glared at the phone.
“It’s Saturday.”
“Fraud also works weekends.”
That word changed the room.
Fraud.
Olivia began shaking.
“I didn’t forge anything.”
Nobody had accused her of forging anything.
Rachel heard it too.
“What would have been forged?”
Grant moved toward the phone.
“This conversation is over.”
I closed the laptop.
“No. Your access to my money is over.”
He stared at me.
“I am formally suspending the remaining investment.”
“Mere.”
“You heard Rachel.”
“This project employs twenty-three people.”
“Then you should have respected them before turning the company into an ATM.”
“It is not an ATM.”
I looked at Olivia.
“Why did you say you didn’t forge anything?”
She cried harder.
My mother moved toward her.
I stopped Mom with one look.
Olivia had spent seven months sleeping with my husband in my house.
She could survive a chair by herself.
Finally, Olivia whispered, “Grant asked me to sign something.”
Grant swore.
“What?”
“A vendor completion certificate.”
“That’s normal.”
Rachel said, “What did it certify?”
Olivia’s eyes stayed on Grant.
“That all furniture deposits had been paid.”
“Had they?”
“No.”
Tom stood.
Grant said, “Cash-flow timing.”
Rachel’s voice sharpened.
“Did the bank rely on that certificate for a construction draw?”
Nobody answered.
That was answer enough.
I felt cold.
Not heartbroken.
Cold.
The Henderson negotiation suddenly felt like it had happened to someone else.
I said, “Everybody leave.”
Grant stared at me.
“What?”
“Not you.”
He looked relieved.
I corrected myself.
“You especially.”
“Mere.”
“I need the house.”
“Our house.”
“For today.”
He laughed once.
“You don’t get to evict me because you’re angry.”
Rachel interrupted.
“Meredith, don’t turn this into a possession dispute. Ask him voluntarily to stay elsewhere.”
I nodded.
“Will you?”
Grant crossed his arms.
“No.”
My father said, “Grant.”
“This is my home too.”
Olivia whispered, “I’ll leave.”
I turned to her.
“You were never invited.”
Her face crumpled.
Mom said, “Meredith.”
I looked at my mother.
“What?”
Her expression was familiar.
Be reasonable.
Be the strong one.
Protect your sister from consequences because you can take more pain than she can.
It had been the invisible rule of our childhood.
Olivia broke something.
I forgave.
Olivia failed.
I helped.
Olivia cried.
I surrendered.
Not today.
“Do not ask me to make this easier for her.”
Mom flinched.
“I wasn’t.”
“You were about to.”
Silence.
Dad looked at Mom.
She looked away.
Grant used the distraction.
“Meredith, can we talk alone?”
“No.”
“Ten years means nothing?”
“It meant something yesterday.”
His face tightened.
Olivia grabbed her clothes.
As she walked toward the door, her green phone rang.
The screen lit.
A name appeared.
Mason Carter Ridge.
Grant moved too quickly.
“Don’t answer.”
Olivia froze.
I said, “Answer it.”
She stared at both of us.
Then pressed the button.
“Mason?”
A man spoke loudly enough for all of us to hear.
“Olivia, Grant isn’t answering. We have a problem with the invoices.”
Grant closed his eyes.
“What problem?” I asked.
Mason went silent.
Olivia whispered, “Meredith’s here.”
Another silence.
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
Then Mason said something that changed the direction of the entire day.
“Then maybe she should finally know where the missing one hundred and forty thousand went.”
