Unmasked My CEO Ex-Husband’s Regret novel Chapter 141

Meredith Beckett seethed with frustration, wishing she could crack her son’s skull open and shove her logic right into his brain.

She was about to launch into another lecture when Julian Beckett cut her off. "I know."

Meredith paused, caught off guard.

Julian’s tone was ice-cold over the line. "I’m obviously not going to just hand her everything she wants."

"Then why did you—"

"We need time."

As soon as Julian said it, Meredith caught on.

They were in the middle of a scheme to temporarily funnel assets away, creating the illusion that Ark Solutions was drowning in debt. That way, when Julian and Elara Sterling finally divorced, Elara would walk away with practically nothing.

Personal assets were easy enough to hide, but corporate finances couldn't just be magically erased overnight.

Elara was a lawyer herself. If they were too obvious about it, she would undoubtedly catch on, which was why they needed to drag this out and lay the groundwork.

Everything had been going perfectly. They just needed one or two more months to finalize the trap.

But lately, things had gone sideways. For whatever reason, Sebastian Vance had lost his mind and personally escorted Elara and Melody to his birthday party, nearly exposing Julian and Vivian Winthrop's affair in front of the entire elite social circle.

Then Vivian had injured her knee, giving Julian an excuse to skip Melody's party to take care of her...

After those two consecutive blunders, Elara was bound to be suspicious.

In a tense situation like last night, the only way Julian could pacify her and extinguish her suspicions was to temporarily agree to her outrageous demands.

"So you're using the company shares to buy time?" Meredith finally understood her son’s strategy. "And then when you divorce, you'll just take them back?"

Once their plan succeeded, Ark Solutions would be bleeding money on paper by the time the divorce proceedings began. The shares in Elara's name would be completely worthless. Julian could simply offer to buy them back for pennies on the dollar under the guise of 'divorce compensation.'

He would get his equity back while still looking like the generous good guy.

"I will," Julian promised. "I'll sign it this morning and have it sent over to you."

The new shell company they were partnering with—from its initial registration to this sudden partnership with Ark Solutions—had been entirely orchestrated by Meredith. All Julian had to do was go through the motions.

Just as he hung up the phone, his lawyer knocked on the door.

Julian discussed the share transfer, hammered out the specific details, and instructed the lawyer to draft the contract immediately so he could take it home that afternoon.

After the lawyer left, Julian signed the partnership agreement with Vanguard Strategic, sent it off to Meredith, and headed over to Vivian's apartment to keep her company for lunch.

Meanwhile, Elara spent her entire morning at the law firm.

Sarah Norwood had pulled some strings and successfully obtained the death certificate of the legal representative listed under Meredith’s shell company.

The two women pieced the evidence together, finalizing the official complaint. By the time they finished, it was already noon.

Elara ordered some takeout, and they huddled in her office, eating sandwiches while triple-checking the documents. Now, all they had to do was wait for the government offices to open for the afternoon session.