Chapter 13 - Divided AllegiancesI walked out of the bakery that night with my head spinning. Richard didn't physically stop me—he didn't need to. He knew he held the ultimate financial power over my life. If he pulled his backing or filed an emergency injunction as a majority shareholder, Hart & Flour would freeze overnight.
By morning, I called an emergency meeting at my loft with the only two people I trusted without reservation: Sarah and my mother.
Sarah paced back and forth across the hardwood floor, her face flushed with fury. "That absolute bastard! He set the whole thing up? Ethan was just a pawn?"
"Ethan was a corrupt pawn," my mother corrected gently, her hands trembling as she held her teacup. "He still made the choice to steal from Charlotte. But Richard... Richard is a predator."
"What do we do?" Sarah asked, turning to me. "If we expose him publicly, the media will go wild. The headlines won't say 'Hart & Flour Expands.' They’ll say 'Hart & Flour Built on Fraud and Deception.' It could ruin the brand before we even open the second location."
"That’s exactly what Richard is counting on," I said, leaning back against the sofa, my mind racing through scenarios. "He thinks I’m too afraid of losing my success to fight back. He thinks I’m the same fragile woman who let Ethan walk all over her."
"Are you?" my mother asked softly, looking into my eyes with deep concern.
"No," I said firmly. "Never again."
My phone buzzed on the coffee table. It was a notification from our corporate bank account.
My heart sank. A notification popped up: Unusual Account Activity - Executive Transfer Initiated by Managing Partner: Richard Sterling.
He had already started moving. Richard had executed an emergency clause in our operating agreement, attempting to transfer our surplus operational capital—over $1.2 million—into an escrow account under his sole control, citing 'brand safety and pending litigation.'
"He’s freezing us out," Sarah gasped, looking over my shoulder at the screen.
"He thinks he can bleed me dry," I muttered, a cold fire igniting in my chest. "Then he doesn't know who he's dealing with."
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I grabbed my phone and dialed a number I never thought I’d call again: the lead investigator at the Ohio Attorney General’s Financial Crimes Division—the same agent who had arrested Ethan a year ago.
"Agent Miller?" I said when the line connected. "This is Charlotte Hart. I have new evidence regarding the Hart & Flour embezzlement case. And this time, I’m bringing down the man who actually planned it."
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