Chapter 4 - The Trust Fund Trap
By Wednesday, the reality of his situation had finally hit Richard.
I was in the middle of a strategy meeting with my new engineering team when David handed me a secure tablet. "It's your banker, Ms. Sterling."
I stepped out into the hallway. "Yes, Thomas?"
"Claire, I thought you should know. Richard just tried to access your primary trust account. He attempted to execute a wire transfer of two million dollars to Sterling Architecture's operational fund. He claimed it was a pre-authorized spousal transfer."
I laughed softly. "And what did you tell him, Thomas?"
"I told him that account was closed and liquidated a month ago, and that attempting to access it without authorization is wire fraud. He started screaming at me, so I disconnected the call."
Before I left Richard, I had quietly moved every cent of my inheritance into an offshore trust completely insulated from marital claims, managed by a firm recommended by Marcus. Richard had always assumed my money would be his ultimate safety net. He never bothered to learn the account numbers; he just told me when to transfer the funds.
May you like
Now, he was in freefall. Sterling Architecture had massive vendor invoices due at the end of the month. Without my software to streamline the supply chain, and without my money to cover his reckless spending, his company was bleeding out.
I walked back into the engineering room, the digital schematics of our new global project glowing on the screens. "Alright, team," I said, my voice ringing with newfound authority. "Let's accelerate the rollout. I want the beta version live in two weeks."
