Chapter 10 - Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars.
Claire stared at her own name on the ledger.
The amount was exact.
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
The same amount Trevor had offered her at the bus stop.
Martin Hale looked almost relieved.
"This is what happens when people rush to believe a convenient witness."
Claire turned toward Evelyn.
"I didn't take anything."
"I know."
Martin smiled.
"Do you?"
Adrian stepped into the boardroom doorway.
"Check the destination account."
Evelyn opened the transaction detail.
Her expression tightened.
"It ends in 4419."
Claire shook her head.
"That's not my account."
"Can you prove it?"
Martin asked.
Claire looked at him.
"Yes."
"Then by all means."
Claire opened her banking app and handed the phone to Evelyn.
Her account ended in 8032.
Her balance was painfully ordinary.
Martin's smile faded slightly.
Judith Bellmont leaned closer to the tablet.
"Who owns 4419?"
Evelyn searched the routing data attached to the spreadsheet.
"The recipient name is hidden in the export."
Martin spread his hands.
"How convenient."
Claire's anger sharpened into clarity.
"Trevor wanted me to accept twenty-five thousand because someone had already built a record saying I did."
Adrian looked at her.
"Exactly."
"If I accepted, the real payment and the fake payment would look like the same thing."
Evelyn nodded slowly.
"It would make the ledger appear authentic."
Judith looked at Martin.
"And make Claire useless as a witness."
Martin's voice remained smooth.
"You're building a fantasy from unauthenticated data."
Before anyone could continue, Claire's phone displayed another banking notification.
Her heart jumped.
For one terrible second, she thought someone had accessed her account.
Instead, it was a deposit from the Bellmont payroll department.
Her ordinary paycheck.
Claire almost laughed at the contrast.
One line on the fake ledger claimed she had received twenty-five thousand dollars.
The real account showed eight hundred forty-six dollars and twelve cents after deductions.
She turned the screen toward Evelyn.
"There is my glamorous payoff."
Judith Bellmont looked at the number and then at Martin.
"She has allowed us to inspect her actual account voluntarily."
Martin's attorney interrupted.
"A single account proves nothing."
Claire nodded.
"He's right. I could have another account."
Martin seemed surprised by her agreement.
Claire continued.
"So check the tax identity tied to the receiving account. Check the bank's customer record. Check everything."
Evelyn looked at her carefully.
"You're authorizing a financial verification?"
"For this payment only. In writing."
Adrian nodded approvingly.
Claire looked at him.
"Don't look proud. I'm learning from people trying to trap me."
His expression returned to neutral.
"Understood."
Judith almost smiled.
Martin did not.
The boardroom speakerphone rang.
Everyone looked toward it.
A director answered.
"Boardroom."
A male voice came through.
"This is hotel security. We have a Ms. Natalie Ross downstairs requesting to speak with Adrian Vale."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
Miles had said Natalie was gone.
Now she had returned voluntarily.
"Bring her up."
Martin objected.
"This meeting is already out of control."
Judith stared at him.
"Then perhaps stop trying to control it."
Five minutes later, Natalie entered with Miles behind her.
She looked exhausted.
Her hair was pulled back carelessly, and the polished executive assistant Claire had seen in photographs was gone.
Adrian spoke first.
"Where have you been?"
Natalie looked at him.
"Trying to decide whether you'd believe me."
"Start with the truth and we'll find out."
Natalie placed a small envelope on the table.
"Graham Pike paid me."
The room erupted in overlapping voices.
Adrian did not move.
"For what?"
"Access."
"To my files?"
"Templates. Schedules. Internal contact lists."
Claire watched Adrian absorb the betrayal.
He did not show much, but his eyes became colder.
"Why?"
Natalie swallowed.
"My mother lost her house last year. I was behind on everything. Pike knew."
Claire felt an unwelcome flash of recognition.
That was how people like Trevor worked.
They did not search for evil people.
They searched for desperate ones.
Natalie continued.
"He said it was competitive intelligence."
Adrian's voice remained controlled.
"And when did you realize it wasn't?"
"When he asked for your signature files."
"Did you give them to him?"
Natalie looked down.
"Yes."
Martin folded his arms.
"So your own employee forged the directive."
Natalie turned toward him.
"No."
Martin's expression stiffened.
"Excuse me?"
"I gave Pike access to the source materials. I didn't create the directive."
Evelyn held up the tablet.
"What is V CONSULT?"
Natalie nodded toward herself.
"Vale consultant. That's me."
"And the twenty-five-thousand-dollar payment to C. Bennett?"
Natalie looked at Claire.
"I don't know."
Claire believed her.
She was not sure why.
Maybe because Natalie looked ashamed rather than defensive.
Evelyn tapped the routing number.
"Can you identify account 4419?"
Natalie went pale.
"Where did you get that?"
The room became silent again.
Claire stepped forward.
"You know it."
Natalie looked at Martin Hale.
Then at Trevor's empty chair.
Then back at Adrian.
"That account isn't Claire's."
"Whose is it?"
Natalie's voice barely rose above a whisper.
"It's Trevor's private reimbursement account."
Judith Bellmont stood.
"He paid himself and labeled it as Claire?"
Natalie shook her head.
"No."
She looked terrified now.
"Trevor doesn't control that account."
Claire felt a new chill.
"Then who does?"
May you like
Natalie stared directly at Martin Hale.
"His father."
