Chapter 5 - Rising Tide
The atmosphere at the weekly executive briefing was hostile. The CFO, a man named Sterling, sat across from me with a smug, tight-lipped expression. He was ready to present his quarterly report, and he clearly expected me to be humiliated when I had nothing to show for my own analysis.
Julian sat at the head of the table, his fingers steepled. "Jenna, you’ve been looking into the Northern distribution logistics for a week. What have you found?"
The room went silent. Sterling smirked.
I stood up, pulling a tablet from my bag. "I found that the Northern distribution center is a sinkhole," I said, my voice steady. "But not because of market trends. I found a pattern of 'ghost invoicing.' Specifically, there are three shell companies that have been receiving payments from our accounts for the last eighteen months. They are registered under names that don't exist, but they all share the same routing number."
I tapped the screen, projecting the data onto the wall. The numbers were irrefutable. Sterling’s smirk vanished, replaced by a pale, sickly sweat.
"Sterling," Julian said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low pitch. "Is there a reason these accounts are tied to your department’s authorization code?"
"I... I can explain," Sterling stammered, his eyes darting toward the door. "It was an automated process, there must be a glitch in the software—"
"A glitch that results in four million dollars leaving our coffers?" Julian stood up, walking toward the screen. He didn't look at Sterling; he looked at me. There was a spark of pride in his eyes that set my heart racing. "Jenna, proceed."
I took a breath. "The money didn't just disappear. It was laundered through a series of local real estate investments. Investments that were spearheaded by a boutique firm called 'Apex Holdings.'"
I looked directly at Nicholas, who had somehow managed to get an invite to the meeting as an external consultant. He was standing against the wall, clutching his briefcase so hard his knuckles were white.
"Apex Holdings," I continued, "is owned by the same people who are currently trying to 'scale' their logistics division by squeezing Thorne Industries for every penny they can get."
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Julian turned to look at Nicholas. The air in the room became electrified. "Nicholas," Julian said, his tone eerily polite. "I believe you have some explaining to do regarding your recent business ventures."
Nicholas opened his mouth to protest, but the evidence was already cycling on the screen behind him. It was over. The alliance was collapsing.
