Chapter 10 The Women Beside Him
The bright lights of news cameras flashed outside the grand entrance of the Manhattan art gallery.
It was three weeks after Joan had been forced out of her home, and the corporate world was buzzing with rumors.
The event was an exclusive pre-launch charity gala for Loft Haven, held two weeks before the private-island resort’s press preview and soft launch.
The twins’ original two-week invitation had expired the week before. Joan had reminded Reiner in writing that he had promised they would leave. He had responded by extending their stay through the launch and authorizing them to remain in the penthouse without her consent.
During those weeks, Lena arranged for a bonded moving company to collect Joan’s remaining possessions under independent building-security supervision. Every item was photographed and logged, though several pieces of jewelry and family heirlooms the twins had already hidden remained missing.
Joan sat at the kitchen counter in her small studio apartment, her laptop screen glowing in the quiet room. Her heart sank as she scrolled through the latest news articles online.
There, in high-resolution photographs, was Reiner. He looked tall and handsome in a dark tuxedo, but his jaw was set tight, and his eyes looked tired. Standing closely on either side of him were Macey and Annabelle.
The photographs made the relationship unmistakable. Macey, radiant in emerald silk, rested a possessive hand on Reiner’s arm. At her throat gleamed the pearl drop earrings he had given Joan for their tenth anniversary—the same earrings Macey had planted in Graham’s hotel suite.
On Reiner’s other side, Annabelle looked calm and powerful in a tailored silk suit. She was holding a tablet and speaking directly to a group of major investors, acting as if she had every right to represent Loft International.
The headline above the photo read: LOFT INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP RALLY AFTER CO-FOUNDER SUSPENSION: IS REINER LOFT MOVING ON?
Joan stared at the image as her sisters occupied her events, wore her jewelry, and stepped into the life she had built. Reiner had not yet named them publicly as his partners, but he was already using their presence to conceal the fracture in his perfect image.
A quiet knock at the apartment door broke the silence.
Joan closed the laptop and opened the door. Lena Park stood in the hallway with two coffees and leather folders packed with documents.
"You shouldn't be looking at those photos, Joan," Lena said gently as she stepped inside, setting the coffee down on the counter.
"It's hard to look away when they're parading around in my clothes and jewelry," Joan said, her voice tight. "Macey is wearing my tenth-anniversary earrings, Lena. Reiner bought those for me in Paris. And now he lets her wear them to a company event."
"He is trying to control the narrative," Lena said, unzipping her briefcase. "Reiner is terrified of looking weak before the Loft Haven launch. Your sisters offered him a quick fix, and he took it because his pride was hurt. But photos don't equal proof, Joan. We are gathering facts."
Lena pulled a thick paper folder out and laid it flat on the table. "I spent the morning with the legal team and the hospital toxicology lab. We just got Graham’s official medical reports back from the night he was rushed to the emergency room from the hotel."
Joan leaned over the counter, reading the black text on the white paper. "What did they find?"
"High levels of a powerful sedating chemical," Lena said, pointing to a highlighted line. "It matches the exact active compound in the anti-anxiety and sleep medication your doctor prescribed you after your miscarriage three months ago."
Joan’s hands trembled slightly as she looked at the paper. "The tablets Macey stole from the prescription bottle in my private bathroom."
"Exactly." Lena nodded. "Graham did not pass out from champagne, and he did not go to that suite for a romantic meeting. He was chemically incapacitated. The toxicology report proves he was drugged."
"Does it say who put it in his drink?" Joan asked.
"Not yet," Lena admitted. "The hotel bar cameras were somehow 'under maintenance' for a twenty-minute window when Graham was downstairs. We know Macey did it, but right now, the paper only proves he was drugged, not who held the glass. Reiner’s lawyers are claiming Graham took the pills himself to cover up his embarrassment. "
"Of course they are," Joan said bitterly, resting her face in her hands. "Reiner will believe anything that keeps him from seeing the truth."
"Then let's look at something he can't deny," Lena said, pulling out a second thick folder labeled INTERNAL ACCESS LOGS.
Lena opened the file, revealing pages of digital timestamps, code sequences, and user identification numbers.
"While I was in London dealing with that fake regulatory issue Annabelle created, I asked an independent cybersecurity consultant to audit the server history at Loft International," Lena explained. "I wanted to see how the false payment transfer to the shell company was made under your name."
Joan leaned closer, watching as Lena pointed her pen at a line of computer code highlighted in bright yellow.
"A five-hundred-thousand-dollar transfer requires a valid executive hardware key but falls below the threshold for dual executive approval," Lena said. "Annabelle used your stolen key through an executive session already open on the laptop Reiner assigned her."
Joan froze. "My stolen key?"
"Yes. Reiner did not approve the payment itself. He granted Annabelle excessive operational access over your objections, and that access gave her the opportunity to use the key she stole from you."
"How did she do it then?" Joan asked, her heart pounding against her ribs.
"After suspending you, Reiner expanded her launch-adviser clearance to schedules, vendors, hotel systems, and project files," Lena said, showing Joan the authorization.
"Those permissions did not include financial transfers, but they placed Annabelle inside an authenticated environment where your stolen key would work. "
The realization settled over Joan.
All this time, she had thought her sisters were criminal geniuses who had outsmarted everyone.
But the truth was far worse. Annabelle hadn't outsmarted the system.
Reiner had handed her the keys because he was tired of Joan questioning his decisions.
He had trusted a woman he barely knew over the wife who had built the company alongside him for twelve years.
"He gave her the access she needed to use the key she stole from me," Joan whispered.
"He did," Lena said grimly. "He thought he was helping your family and protecting the launch. He was so eager to feel admired by Annabelle and Macey that he ignored basic security protocols."
"And where was the computer that actually sent the transfer?" Joan asked.
Lena turned to the very last page of the report and tapped her pen against a printed serial number.
"The IP address was traced directly to a high-end corporate laptop," Lena said, a small, sharp smile touching her lips. "The specific laptop assigned directly to Annabelle Bellamy when Reiner brought her onto the launch team."
The transfer used to suspend Joan had originated from Annabelle’s assigned laptop, through the access Reiner granted her, and with the hardware key Annabelle stole. The chain did not merely clear Joan; it showed how Reiner’s contempt for her warnings had enabled the fraud.
"We have it," Joan said, her breath catching in her throat. "This proves I didn't steal the money."
"It proves Annabelle created the transfer," Lena agreed. "It is the first solid piece of digital evidence that breaks their story. But Joan, we have to be careful how we use this."
"Why?" Joan asked, looking up. "We should take this to the board right now! We can show them that Reiner suspended me based on a fake transfer created by my sister."
"If we go to the board today, Reiner’s legal team will spin it," Lena warned.
"They will call it a technical mistake made under your credentials or bad accounting rather than fraud.
We still need to prove the forged discharge paper and the staged hotel scene.
If we move too early, Reiner will contain the scandal to save face before the launch. "
Joan stood up and walked over to the window, looking out over the gray Manhattan skyline.
She thought about the photo of Reiner standing between her sisters. She thought about Macey wearing her pearl earrings. She thought about Annabelle sitting behind the grand wooden desk in Joan’s office, using Reiner’s authority to ruin her life.
"You’re right." Joan turned from the window with a new steadiness. "The transfer alone is not enough. Reiner needs to see the whole scheme—and every choice he made that allowed it."
"What do you want to do?" Lena asked.
"We keep gathering evidence," Joan said. "We authenticate the forged discharge paper, determine what the penthouse security system captured, and let them believe they have won."
"The Loft Haven launch is in two weeks," Lena reminded her. "Reiner is planning to bring them both to the private island as his guests of honor."
"Let him," Joan said. "Let them stand beside him before the board and the press. When I step onto that island, I will not merely defend my job. I will expose the women Reiner chose and the husband who gave them the power to destroy his wife."