Page 21 of Dominant

“What does that mean?” She looked skeptical, and I realized she was angry.

“You don’t know me, Jordan. You don’t know what I’m like, and… I don’t think you’d like it.” I dragged my fingers through my hair, hoping we could leave it at that. Everything about Jordan was wearing me out. I didn’t have time for any of these discussions.

“You said that in the car. But you don’t know me either, you know.” One finger tucked under the elastic band on her wrist, and she snapped it unconsciously, flushing suddenly when she realized I’d noticed.

I eyed her thoughtfully. It was true I didn’t know much about her. But I knew what kind of person needed pain to feel relief. I felt the monster rise inside of me. I had a sudden, violent urge to force her to her knees.

“Jordan,” I said with a sigh, wanting to warn her, to chase her away.

She stood up. “I get it, okay? I just… wanted to know. It’s embarrassing. I thought we had fun that night. But… it’s fine.”

“Jordan,” I said again, more firmly, standing up. She lifted her hazel eyes to me, looking vulnerable. “We did have fun. Actually, I can’t remember the last time I had that much fun.”

The slightest hint of a smile played on her lips. “Really?”

I closed my eyes briefly. “Really.”

“Then let me help you. This account, something’s up, and I know it. I can help you. You just need to let me.”

The moment had passed. “That’s enough,” I snapped. “I told you already, you need to drop this.”

“You’re making a mistake,” she’d said plaintively. “It’s not just about hiding it from me. If it looks weird to me, it will look weird to your auditors. What if they want to look back through past years? You say you don’t want to date your partners’ daughter because you’re worried it’ll impact your business, well, you should be more worried about losing your business because you’re using it to hide an illegal enterprise!”

She’d stormed out of the room, and slammed the door behind her. I stood still for a moment, stunned, before slowly lowering myself back into my chair, realizing at last that I might be underestimating her.

She was smarter than I’d given her credit for.

Jordan

Math is a language, the language the universe uses to speak to us. The secrets of the universe can only be expressed in mathematical equations, and numbers never lie. I think that’s what drew me to math and economics originally. Math feels safe. Numbers can be trusted.

Accounting is an enforcement of truth. Numbers tell the full story, and words are used to bring it to life. The numbers told me that something was up with 278503921 Ltd. There was no denying that the math spinning out of that account indicated something complex and hidden. It was only a matter of time before I uncovered more about it, and finally, one day, I stumbled on a clue.

An address.

Alexander was out of the office and I was digging through the paper files. Obviously he hadn’t said anything to Marianne about the ledger, as she didn’t question what I was doing. She just stepped over the files carefully as she passed me in the hall.

Eventually, I found a cover page for a bank document for the account in question. It was jammed in a paper file, maybe by accident, and was dated five years ago. The enclosure wasn’t with it, so there was no financial information, but the single page contained something even better: a mailing address.

I knew the street. It was in an affluent residential neighbourhood in the city’s west end, and I jotted the address down and decided to drive out there that night.

It had been six weeks since I’d started at Abbott Holdings, and I’d not only been able to pay my roommate back all the back rent I owed her, but I had also paid off all my parking fines and had the wheel clamps removed from my car. I was grateful to Alexander for giving me this job. It was the only thing that had allowed me to get ahead, and with the salary I was making I could easily afford to move out and get my own place without a roommate. But if Alexander was involved in something illegal, I needed to know so that I could make a decision about how much I was willing to risk to continue working there. And if he wasn’t being careful about it, there could potentially be no Abbott Holdings in the near future anyway, and then where would I be? Right back to working for free for Jennifer and Jonathan, while they paid themselves and my sisters for doing no work at all.

I knew that they were all on the winery payroll, of course, because I collected all the salary information for their tax filings, yet somehow Jennifer seemed to think I wasn’t aware of it. She lied badly about the girls having other jobs, and told me that they wished they had the money to pay me for my work.

Because I hadn’t known any of them until five years ago, I wasn’t considered a true member of the family - and to be fair, I didn’t really consider them my true family either. I had been raised by my mother, my father just a concept until I’d looked him up when I was eighteen. My mother had decided to move to Arizona to live with a spiritual healer she’d fallen in love with online and I wanted a parent within shouting range if I needed one. Jennifer and Jonathan had made a big show of being happy to welcome me into their family, although I never really had been.

But now I was finally being paid for my work with Chateau Andilet, by Abbott Holdings.

Or, more to the point, by a business called only 278503921 Ltd., which seemed to fund Abbott Holdings.

I was determined to get to the bottom of what it was.

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