Chapter 9
Melissa had worked under Lucinda for four years.
She was not part of the fraud.
She had noticed irregularity.
Then ignored it longer than she should have.
That distinction mattered.
The flash drive contained working spreadsheets Lucinda asked her to prepare.
One column showed actual expenditures for Lucas.
Tuition.
Healthcare.
Housing.
Travel.
Another showed amounts charged to the Family Assistance Trust.
Another showed amounts reimbursed through foundation “confidential beneficiary protection.”
The gap grew every year.
At the bottom was a column labeled:
C.R. authorization basis.
Cassian’s initials.
Every excess payment had a supposed approval source.
Some referenced meeting notes.
Some referenced emails.
Some referenced digital authorizations.
Many were fake.
Melissa asked Lucinda about one six months earlier.
Lucinda told her:
“Cassian doesn’t like his private matters discussed. If his initials are there, leave it.”
That sentence had worked.
Cassian’s reputation protected the fraud.
Nobody wanted to ask a feared man whether the secret-child payments carrying his initials were actually his.
Melissa also produced a draft “audit narrative.”
It described Lucas as:
Long-term undisclosed biological dependent privately funded at Cassian Romano’s direction.
Another line:
Lucinda Romano became aware of irregularities during routine preparation for the 2026 audit and immediately sought outside counsel.
False.
She had known for years.
Then the hotel night appeared in a planning calendar.
6:00 p.m. — Leah/Lucas meeting.
6:30 p.m. — signed acknowledgment.
6:45 p.m. — Northgate departure.
7:30 p.m. — “C discussion if feasible.”
8:00 p.m. — crisis counsel standby.
9:00 p.m. — foundation counsel preservation notice.
The plan was coordinated.
Millie was not mentioned.
Her appearance upstairs had been unplanned.
Lucinda improvised by locking her away.
Then investigators recovered deleted texts between Lucinda and Peter Shaw.
Peter:
Leah is getting nervous. She wants to talk to Cassian herself.
Lucinda:
Not before she signs.
Peter:
You cannot physically stop her.
Lucinda:
I don’t need to. She thinks he’ll cut Lucas off.
Peter:
And if Cassian finds out first?
Lucinda:
Then we go to Plan B.
“What was Plan B?” Cassian asked.
Katherine turned the next page.
They found it in Lucinda’s crisis file.
Plan B:
Immediate disclosure of Lucas.
Release of support records.
Allegation that Cassian had knowingly concealed paternity.
Emergency recusal.
Independent review.
Public positioning of Lucinda as the spouse who “discovered” the truth.
The last line read:
If C becomes aggressive, preserve incident separately.
Cassian leaned back.
“And he did.”
Katherine looked at him.
“You did.”
Important correction.
Peter Shaw’s financial records added another layer.
Northgate was not merely overbilling.
Lucinda had a silent 18 percent economic interest through a trust created before her marriage to Cassian.
Not illegal to own.
Illegal and deceptive to hide while approving foundation-related payments.
Over three years, her indirect distributions from Northgate totaled approximately $740,000.
Add her direct diverted consulting money and hidden benefits:
More than $1.1 million.
Serious.
Still, Katherine believed money alone did not explain the effort.
Then she found Lucinda’s prenuptial agreement.
If the marriage ended ordinarily, Lucinda left wealthy.
Approximately $8 million in separate assets remained hers.
She had no claim to Cassian’s pre-marital holdings.
No claim to Millie’s inheritance.
No share in the Romano Family Assistance Trust.
But there was a clause concerning proven intentional financial misconduct against a spouse.
If Cassian were found to have concealed significant marital liabilities or used family entities to expose Lucinda to undisclosed criminal or civil risk, she could challenge several limitations in the prenup.
A documented twelve-year secret-son funding structure allegedly run by Cassian could help her claim exactly that.
Katherine stared at the clause.
“This is bigger than avoiding the audit.”
Cassian understood.
“She wanted to leave.”
“Possibly.”
“With leverage.”
“Yes.”
“And my son was the evidence.”
Katherine nodded.
May you like
Part 10 was no longer only about hiding fraud.
Lucinda had been building an exit in which Cassian paid for the fraud she committed.
