I did not know how many more secrets Victor had hidden.
And I certainly did not know that the accountant’s letter contained one final instruction that would change everything.
Three weeks later, I sat in Grace’s office while an independent forensic accountant named Peter Lawson explained the results of his preliminary investigation.
Victor had not merely concealed one bank account.
He had built an entire financial structure designed to keep me from seeing what the restaurant was worth.
Money from the original company had been transferred into separate entities. Some of those entities held properties. Others received management fees. Several had no employees and conducted no obvious business beyond receiving money.
The transfers stretched across more than a decade.
The accountant had also located old tax filings that listed me as a co-owner before the fire.
“How much?” I asked.
Peter adjusted his glasses.
“The full amount remains under investigation, but the records currently available indicate that several million dollars may have passed through the disputed accounts. We need to establish which transfers were legitimate business expenses, which involved marital assets, and which may have been improperly concealed.”
