He stopped beside me, his face pale beneath the ballroom lights.
“Caroline,” he said, “we need to tell everyone what happened.”
She stared at him.
“Nathan, put that away.”
He didn’t move.
“Four hundred and eighty thousand dollars was transferred out of the foundation’s restricted account.”
A murmur passed through the crowd.
Caroline reached for his arm.
“Darling, not here.”
Nathan stepped away.
“The authorization was made using my mother’s name. She did not approve it.”
Caroline’s eyes widened.
“You don’t understand what you’re doing.”
“I understand exactly what I’m doing.”
He lifted the document.
“The bank confirmed the transfer details. The money went into Blue Cypress Property Group, a company registered under Caroline’s maiden name.”
Someone gasped.
A man near the front lowered his champagne glass.
Caroline’s face turned crimson.
“That money was for redevelopment!”
“Then why was the company purchasing private residential land?” Nathan asked.
The question hung in the air.
Caroline opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Nathan continued.
“The authorization was recorded while my mother was hospitalized. I was beside her that morning. She never approved this transaction.”
He lowered the clipboard.
“And I failed to question it when I should have.”
I turned toward him.
The admission had clearly cost him something.
