Chapter 2 - Three Hundred Dollars.
Victor turned away before the call connected, but Adrian had already seen enough.
“Don’t make that call.”
Victor froze.
His shoulders stiffened beneath the black mandarin-collar jacket.
“This is a private business matter, sir.”
Adrian set the baby bottle gently on an empty table.
“No, it stopped being private when she hit the floor.”
Elena looked between the two men, confused by the sudden shift in power.
One of the security guards moved toward her again.
Adrian lifted one finger.
“Take another step toward her and I’ll make sure your name is included in the incident report.”
The guard stopped.
Victor gave a sharp laugh.
“You don’t know what you’re involving yourself in.”
“That makes two of us.”
Adrian picked up the document with Grace’s signature.
“Because I’m starting to think you don’t know who signed this.”
Victor’s expression tightened.
Elena pulled her bag into her lap.
“I found those papers in the trash outside his office.”
Victor spun toward her.
“You stole confidential documents.”
“They were sticking out of a ripped trash liner.”
“You went through company property.”
“I went through garbage because my time sheet was in it.”
The humiliation in Elena’s voice landed harder than a shout.
She reached into the bag and pulled out a pink carbon-copy time sheet.
Three dates were circled in blue ink.
Each showed a fourteen-hour shift.
Victor’s initials appeared beside all three.
“I cleaned tables after midnight.”
Elena held the sheet up.
“I scrubbed grease off the kitchen floor.”
She pointed at another line.
“I unloaded produce at five in the morning because your delivery crew didn’t show.”
Victor’s jaw worked.
“You were paid cash.”
“No.”
“You signed for it.”
“No.”
Victor looked around the room as if searching for someone willing to confirm his version.
No one met his eyes.
Adrian turned to the nearest server.
A young man named Caleb was frozen beside a tray of untouched appetizers.
“Did she work here?”
Caleb looked at Victor.
Victor’s stare sharpened.
Caleb swallowed.
“I don’t know.”
Elena’s face fell.
Victor smiled.
“See?”
Then a quiet voice came from the service station.
“She worked.”
A middle-aged waitress named Maribel stepped forward with both hands clasped tightly in front of her apron.
“She covered me when my mother went to the hospital.”
Victor’s smile vanished.
Maribel continued before fear could stop her.
“She worked three nights.”
“She was told three hundred dollars.”
“And she never got it.”
Victor pointed at her.
“Clock out.”
Maribel went white.
“You’re done here.”
Adrian’s voice stayed low.
“No one is clocking out.”
Victor rounded on him.
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
Adrian reached inside his suit jacket.
Elena flinched instinctively.
He pulled out a slim leather wallet and opened it.
There was no police badge inside.
There was a company credential.
Victor stared at the silver Mercer Hospitality emblem.
His eyes lifted slowly toward Adrian’s face.
Adrian watched recognition arrive in stages.
Disbelief came first.
Then calculation.
Then panic.
“My name is Adrian Mercer.”
The restaurant went silent again.
“My family owns the controlling interest in this building, this restaurant, and eleven other properties operated under this group.”
Victor took one step backward.
Adrian held up the fraudulent grant sheet.
“And Grace Mercer was my sister.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Victor recovered faster than Adrian expected.
“That document is fake.”
“I agree.”
“I mean she made it.”
Elena jerked her head up.
“What?”
“She came here demanding money and threatening me with forged paperwork.”
Victor raised his phone.
“I’m calling the police.”
“Good.”
Adrian’s answer seemed to surprise him.
“Call them.”
Victor hesitated.
Adrian leaned closer.
“Tell them to bring someone who understands identity theft.”
Then Elena pulled another envelope from the bottom of her bag.
“I already tried to report that.”
She slid it across the table.
Inside was a bank notice addressed to her apartment.
It confirmed an account she had never opened.
The balance printed at the bottom was forty-two dollars.
The transaction history showed that eighteen thousand three hundred dollars had entered the account and disappeared less than seven minutes later.
Adrian read the name of the person who had authorized the outgoing wire.
Daniel Rowe.
May you like
The chief financial officer of Mercer Hospitality.
And the contact Victor had just tried to call.
