Chapter 2 - The Investor Dinner
I wore red.
A sleek, backless Tom Ford gown that fit like a second skin, paired with diamond drop earrings. When I walked into the private dining room at Al Biernat’s that evening, Daniel was already there, holding a glass of scotch and sweating through his custom Italian suit. He looked at me, his eyes widening in a mixture of profound relief and sheer panic.
He thought my presence meant I was playing the good wife. He thought he had survived the afternoon.
"Valentina," he whispered, rushing over to kiss my cheek. "Thank you. Thank you for coming. We’ll talk tonight, I promise."
"We certainly will," I said, my voice smooth as glass.
The dinner was a high-stakes gathering with our primary venture capital backers, led by a ruthless, brilliant billionaire named Richard Vance. Richard held the proxies for forty percent of Meridian’s voting shares. He was the kingmaker. If Daniel wanted to take the company public next year—which was his ultimate obsession—he needed Richard perfectly happy.
I sat directly across from Richard. Daniel sat at the head of the table, making charming, aggressive promises about our fourth-quarter projections.
"The logistics overhead is our only sticking point," Richard noted, cutting into his ribeye. "The margins are thinning, Daniel. I don't like it."
Daniel smiled smoothly. "It’s a temporary supply chain issue, Richard. We have it entirely under control."
I took a sip of my Bordeaux. "Actually, Richard, our logistics overhead has been artificially inflated for the past four years."
The entire table went dead silent. Daniel froze, his fork halfway to his mouth.
"Valentina," Daniel said, his voice laced with a desperate warning. "Let's not bore the board with granular operational data right now."
"I don't find it boring at all," Richard said, his sharp eyes locking onto mine. "Go on, Valentina."
"We’ve been heavily utilizing a network of third-party vendors for logistical oversight," I said casually, swirling the red wine in my glass. "Companies like Apex Industrial and Horizon Tech. They eat up millions in consulting fees. It’s highly inefficient. In fact, if you look closely at their deliverables, they don't seem to provide any tangible assets to Meridian at all."
Daniel’s face drained of all color. He looked as though he was going to vomit onto the white linen tablecloth. He knew exactly what those companies were.
"Is that so?" Richard asked, leaning forward, a predator smelling blood in the water. "Who authorized these vendors?"
"Daniel did," I smiled, looking directly at my husband. "He takes such a personal, hands-on approach to our corporate spending. But I’ve been running an internal audit today. I’ll send you the preliminary findings in the morning, Richard. I think you'll find them absolutely fascinating."
"I look forward to it," Richard said, his gaze shifting to Daniel with cold, calculating scrutiny.
The rest of the dinner was a masterclass in psychological torture. Daniel couldn't eat. He couldn't speak. He simply stared at me with absolute terror. I ate my steak, laughed at Richard’s jokes, and played the perfect, elegant hostess.
When we finally got into the back of our chauffeured Maybach to head home, the privacy partition rolled up. Daniel turned to me, his chest heaving.
"Are you insane?" he hissed, grabbing my wrist. "What are you doing? You are going to tank the IPO!"
I looked down at his hand until he released my wrist.
"I know about Camellia Trust, Daniel," I said softly in the dark car. "I know about the twelve million dollars. And I know about Leo."
Daniel stopped breathing. He shrank back against the leather seat, completely and utterly broken. The powerful CEO was gone.
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"Valentina, please," he begged, tears welling in his eyes. "I can explain. I was going to fix it. I was going to put the money back."
"You are going to sleep in the guest house tonight," I replied, turning to look out the window at the passing city lights. "And tomorrow, you are going to learn what it costs to humiliate me."
