The Fire in the Accounts
Chapter 12 - The Fire in the Accounts
The forensic audit uncovered payments to three consulting businesses with nearly identical addresses. Some invoices described services never clearly documented. Others were approved using electronic credentials associated with Vincent's office.
Miriam sent the records to independent auditors and referred potential offenses to the authorities. Adrian expected immediate answers. Instead he learned how painstaking financial investigations could be: records had to be authenticated, witnesses interviewed, and innocent explanations considered before conclusions could be drawn.
Vincent, meanwhile, filed a civil action accusing Adrian of removing him unlawfully from management. He sent reporters photographs from happier family holidays, positioning himself as the devoted uncle excluded by a paranoid brother.
Adrian wanted to answer every accusation. Miriam warned him that the best response was documented fact and careful restraint.
Then Samuel Price uncovered an old email from Elena. It had been sent hours before her crash.
SAM, IF I DON'T ARRIVE TOMORROW, GIVE MIRIAM THE COPIES. DON'T LET ANYONE TAKE LUCIA'S TRUST AWAY FROM HER.
Miriam had never received those copies. Samuel explained that he panicked after learning Elena was dead and left the country with his family.
Adrian read the message alone, unable to escape the memory of dismissing Elena's concerns. The last time she asked him to listen, he had told her she was imagining conspiracies.
That afternoon Lucia found him crying in the music room.
“Daddy?”
He wiped his face. “Hi, sweetheart.”
“Are you sad about Mommy?”
“Yes.”
She crawled onto the piano bench beside him. “I'm sad too.”
He wrapped an arm around her. For a while neither spoke. Then Lucia began pressing piano keys with one finger, making a melody that sounded like a question repeated until someone finally answered.
Adrian joined her, clumsily picking out the notes of Elena's favorite lullaby.
The song was uneven and unfinished. Lucia leaned against him and kept playing.
Across town, Hannah received notice that Bellini's would reinstate her employment record and compensate her for the lost shifts as part of a negotiated resolution, without requiring her to change her account. It wasn't a fortune, but it was a beginning.
She called Ben and told him she could finally replace their broken refrigerator.
May you like
“Dream big, sis,” he joked.
Hannah laughed. Small victories were beginning to feel possible again.
