Chapter 5 - The Audit
"When my grandson Daniel announced his engagement to Sloan," Eleanor began, her hand resting lightly on the podium, "I was naturally curious about the family that had raised such a... sensitive young woman. A woman who, according to her own resume, had funded her own education, cared for her ailing grandmother, and supported her family during their darkest hours."
Sloan’s smile froze. She cast a quick, panicked look toward Daniel, who was watching his grandmother with a puzzled expression.
"As the trustee of the Whitlock Family Foundation," Eleanor continued, "I have a responsibility to conduct standard due diligence on any new entity entering our sphere. Three weeks ago, I hired a private forensic accounting firm to verify the financial disclosures Sloan provided for her pre-nuptial agreement."
My mother, Diane, stood up slightly from her chair, her hand grasping her pearls. "Eleanor, surely this is not the time—"
"Sit down, Diane," Eleanor said, not even looking at her. Her voice carried the weight of a heavy artillery shell.
Diane sank back into her seat, her face turning a pale shade of grey.
"The audit was completed yesterday morning," Eleanor said, turning a page on a small leather folder she had brought to the podium. "It revealed some fascinating discrepancies. For instance, Sloan claimed she funded her own degree at Boston University. However, the bank records show that every tuition payment was made from a joint account funded entirely by hazard pay transfers from an Army lieutenant named Emma Clark."
A collective gasp went through the pavilion.
"Furthermore," Eleanor’s voice grew colder, "Sloan’s application for the Whitlock Family Trust’s educational grant—which she received last month in the amount of eighty thousand dollars—stated that she was the primary caregiver for her grandmother, Ruth Clark, during her final three years of life. However, we have the medical logs from the home care agency. Every single log is signed by Emma Clark. Sloan’s name does not appear once. In fact, on the night of Ruth Clark’s passing, credit card records place Sloan at a five-star resort in Cabo, paid for with a card linked to... once again, Emma Clark’s savings account."
Sloan’s face went from pale to a splotchy, violent red. "Daniel!" she shrieked, turning to her husband. "Stop her! She’s lying! She’s trying to ruin our wedding!"
Daniel stood up, his face filled with shock and confusion. "Grandma, what is this? Why are you doing this now?"
"I am doing this now, Daniel," Eleanor said, looking at her grandson with a mixture of pity and stern authority, "because the pre-nuptial agreement you signed this morning contains a clause that voids all asset transfers in the event of material misrepresentation. Your bride is a fraud, Daniel. Her family is a collection of parasites. And they have been feeding on the one real soldier among them for ten years."
May you like
Eleanor looked back at me.
"To Captain Emma Clark," Eleanor said, raising her glass high. "A woman who knows how to hold a line, even when her own family is trying to break it."
