Twilight Romance: Flash Marriage to Mature Tycoon – Episode 36
The gala ended after midnight, but Astor headquarters remained fully lit. Ray’s security team began reviewing access logs while attorneys preserved every message recovered from Summer’s donor ally. The unnamed partner had known details available only to a small group near the board.
Ray wanted Jocelyn and Violet taken home under guard. Jocelyn agreed regarding Violet, who had endured enough for one evening, but refused to be excluded from a crisis that already used her name. Ray accepted her decision without argument.
They entered the executive floor together. Employees who once knew Jocelyn only as Violet’s maid now watched her walk beside the chairman. She felt their curiosity but refused to mistake it automatically for contempt.
The first audit revealed that someone had downloaded board schedules, trust summaries, and the old divorce memo through the board secretary’s account. The secretary denied involvement and insisted her credentials had been stolen. System records showed access from inside headquarters.
Jocelyn observed the woman’s shaking hands and believed her fear, though not necessarily her innocence. Ray ordered an independent investigation rather than firing her publicly. He would not repeat the Smith family’s habit of deciding guilt before facts.
Another alert interrupted the meeting. A transfer of two hundred thousand dollars had been sent from an account linked to Summer’s trust into a savings account under Jocelyn’s name. The transaction was dated before the gala.
Jocelyn stared at the record. She had never opened the receiving account. The implication was obvious: someone wanted investigators to believe Summer had paid her to create the scandal or manipulate Ray.
Ray declared the transfer fraudulent. His counsel warned that defending Jocelyn before forensic review could make the inquiry appear compromised. The company chairman could not act as both husband and judge.
Jocelyn agreed. She asked Ray to recuse himself from the financial investigation. The request hurt him, but protecting her credibility required distance from his authority.
An outside firm took control of the evidence. Until the account’s origin was established, Jocelyn’s access to Astor events and systems would be suspended. She accepted the restriction even though she had never possessed formal access in the first place.
News of the transfer leaked within an hour. Headlines changed from praising her gala speech to questioning whether she had secretly bargained with Summer. The speed of the leak suggested the hidden partner still had access to the investigation.
Ray struck the conference table in frustration. Jocelyn took his hand before anger became another headline. “Trust me enough to let the facts work,” she said.
He feared facts moved slower than lies. She reminded him that using power to rush the outcome would make every future accusation easier. Their marriage needed justice that did not depend on his command.
Violet called from home after seeing the reports. Jocelyn assured her that the transfer was false and asked her not to argue online. Public loyalty did not require a child to fight strangers all night.
The investigator questioned Jocelyn for two hours. She described her finances, the attorney meeting, and every contact with Summer. Humiliation rose when strangers examined years of modest bank statements, but she answered without concealment.
Ray waited outside the interview room. He could have entered with a single order, yet he honored the process Jocelyn requested. Restraint cost him more than action.
Near dawn, the investigator confirmed that the receiving account had been opened online using Jocelyn’s stolen identification. The address belonged to a vacant apartment managed by a company connected to the Smith family.
The evidence cleared Jocelyn from direct involvement, but the company link did not prove who had opened the account. Tony, Stacy, Wendy, and several employees could access the management records. Summer’s unnamed partner had narrowed the field while widening the danger.
Jocelyn remembered Stacy once photographing documents in her purse during the Mother’s Day party. Her identification might have been copied then. Harry needed to be warned before anyone accused Stacy publicly.
As she reached for her phone, a message arrived from Stacy: I know who opened that account. Meet me alone, or they will take Caleb from Harry before morning.