Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 67973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Just curious.” He stepped back, shutting down the conversation. “I have to go meet with Simon about that issue I mentioned. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take, but I’ll see you tonight.”
“Okay,” I said, hating the apprehension tightening my chest.
He left my office, and I sat back down at my desk. I attempted to concentrate on the vendor list but my mind lingered on Liam’s strange behavior. He’d been distant, distracted, and clearly worried about something he didn’t want to discuss.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake the sense that something bigger was going on. And until he decided to let me in, all I could do was wait, trust what we had, and try to keep my brain from spiraling into worst case scenarios.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Liam
The weight of the phone call I’d just had with Simon pressed down on my shoulders as I walked into his office. As I sat in the chair in front of his desk, the grim look on his face told me the in-person update wasn’t going to be any better.
“I forwarded you the full report from the forensic accountant,” he said, getting right to the point. “There’s clear evidence of embezzlement.”
My stomach in knots, I opened the email on my tablet while he sat quietly, giving me a moment as I flipped through each document with the swipe of my finger. The evidence was worse than I’d expected…page after page of inflated invoices, manipulated numbers, and money being funneled into accounts designed to hide the fact that it was being siphoned out fraudulently. It had been happening before we ever invested in the company, but the moment our money hit the books, the withdrawals had increased.
Worse, most of our initial investment was already gone.
Simon leaned forward. “Did you find out who works evenings? The timestamps of the transfers always occurred after office hours, which is the only clue we have right now about who is taking the money.”
I exhaled sharply, guilt eating at me as I remembered the way I’d manipulated Morgan into giving me that information. “I think it’s Parker,” I said, hating to admit out loud that Morgan’s stepbrother was most likely responsible. If true, this discovery was going to crush her.
“He’s the only person Morgan mentioned that works late at the office,” I went on. “And last month, he had a problem with my plan to increase the marketing budget because he was concerned about the manufacturing costs. That didn’t make any sense at the time, but if he already knew the money wasn’t there…”
“It makes sense now because he stole it.” Simon’s voice hardened, outrage simmering just beneath the surface.
I understood his anger, but I was more conflicted than him. My relationship with Morgan aside, I genuinely liked Parker. He was a good man, a smart man. I just didn’t understand why he’d do something like this.
Simon stood and paced to the window, his shoulders rigid. “We need to catch him in the act.”
I nodded in agreement, expecting him to suggest surveillance or more accounting reviews. Instead, he said, “I say we invest another million.”
I stared at him in shock. “You want to give him more money to steal?”
Simon’s jaw tightened. “I want to hire a computer programmer to set up a back door in GalvaTech’s system so we have the ability to monitor the account in real time. If he makes a move to embezzle more, we’ll have irrefutable proof. Timestamps, login credentials, everything.”
Logically, I knew it was the right move but it still felt like a betrayal of not just Morgan, but her whole family. They’d welcomed me with kindness and appreciation for what I could bring to the company. Samuel had treated me with respect from the beginning. And I hated that I couldn’t confide in Morgan, that I was keeping something so monumental from her that could potentially damage our fragile relationship. But for now, I knew I didn’t have a choice.
I also couldn’t allow Parker to keep draining the business and stealing the money we’d invested in the company. And stealing from his own family too.
“Okay,” I said finally. “I’ll talk to Samuel about investing another million tomorrow. You handle the programmer.”
Simon nodded, satisfied. I wished I felt the same.
All I could do now was hope that when the truth came out, it didn’t destroy a good family—and didn’t completely shatter the woman I loved.
* * *
Once the back door system was in place and the extra money invested, it took three days. Three days of waiting, watching the system and financial accounts, and me, hoping—stupidly—that we were wrong. That it was someone else working late and moving the money around. That Parker wasn’t cable of embezzling from his own family.
But late last night, a transfer went through, moved to one of the shell accounts we’d identified. Fifty grand. And the programmer traced it cleanly back to one computer. Parker’s. Logged in under his name, with his passcode, with his IP address. There was no doubt any longer who was transferring the funds for their own personal gain.