Page 46 of My Dear Mr. Corporate

CHAPTER 21

Tate

Staring at the newspaper, the words all jumbled and made reading impossible. That was fine though because I was only pretending to read so Bryan didn’t pick up on my mood. Although he was back in my bed and the sex between us was even hotter than usual, I didn’t take it for granted that we were fine. We weren’t. I had hurt his feelings by not being willing to listen to him about suspecting Gio of foul play. He didn’t know Gio as well as I did. My best friend wouldn’t do that to me. He might have fucked up our relationship a little, but falling in love with your best friend was a far cry from killing someone.

To make matters worse I couldn’t even focus on Bryan right now. I worried about him when he went to work. I had insisted that he had to call or send me a message when he arrived and when he left, but I still worried about him. At the same time, the big mess I had uncovered at work was taking up so much of my time. To finally close the case today, last night I had stayed late at the office to go over the last set of reports I had requested from the Accounts department.

Aunt Susan had been right. Not only was my uncle close to bankrupting himself because of his gambling habits, but he had been using money from the company to maintain his habit. Now I understood more why Dad never placed him at the helm of the company just before he died. Dad must have known that he had a gambling problem. If I had known I would have never passed on the company to him. No wonder he had been so eager to have me go and stay away for as long as I needed so he could carry out his activities.

The newspaper was pulled from my hands and I glanced up to find Bryan frowning at me. He folded the newspaper and leaned against the counter. He was still dressed in a pair of sweats and bare-chested as he was on the evening shift at the restaurant.

“You’re making me nervous with all that heavy sighing,” he told me. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

“Just business,” I answered, without going into details. He had his own problems and didn’t need to hear about mine.

Instead of taking that answer, he sat onto the chair across from me at the island, waiting. “So, tell me about it. You hardly talk about what’s going on with you.”

I was surprised he mentioned that. I never thought he wanted to know anything that was happening with me, especially at work. Usually people thought because I was the head of a successful company, and with all the wealth, everything had to be alright with my world. If they only knew the half of it. A boyfriend, who for all he was trying, couldn’t hide his disappointment in me, the only people who ever really loved me dead, a mother who hadn’t spoken to me since the incident at her house and now an uncle who had robbed the charities the company had started.

“You don’t have to feign interest in the issues going on at work,” I told him.

“Well, you listen to me whine about that slave mistress I have at work so talk to me about your job too.” He reached across the island and took my hands. “Please. Don’t be that guy who won’t let me be there for him too.”

His expression was serious, his eyes pleading for me to open up to him. I remembered him complaining that he knew so little about me because I never really spoke to him. He was right. I had bottled up everything inside for so long that I had forgotten how to share and let people in. “My uncle has been embezzling money from our company.”

His eyes widened and he dropped my hands. “Whoa, are you serious? But he’s your uncle, he wouldn’t do something like that, would he? You’ve known him your entire life.”

I had no idea if he said those words to remind me of our argument a couple nights ago. I hadn’t believed Gio could be the perpetrator because I knew him too well. Thinking about my uncle, I now saw Bryan’s point. Shit. No wonder he was upset. I hadn’t even been willing to listen to his reason for thinking of Gio as responsible.

“It’s a big mess,” I answered, staring down into the murky liquid of the coffee in my cup. “No one noticed because he was doing it from the side of the Foundation. On the books the foundation and charities were benefiting from funds routinely sent to cover projects. In fact, he was pocketing those monies. I told you that Rachel spearheaded the foundation. He was supposed to find someone to replace her, but he never did.”

“That’s just horrible to steal from charities. Who would do such a thing? Aren’t all Rosenbaums supposed to be rich?”

“Years as a gambling addict,” I explained. “That’s why he and Aunt Susan are on the verge of getting divorced. She won’t take him back unless he joins some sort of intervention program.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ve no choice. I have to fire him.”

Half an hour later after kissing Bryan and reminding him to keep in touch, I left for work. I wished I didn’t have to fire my uncle, but I had no choice. What he had done was despicable. The monies that had been put aside for the charities had been to build a children’s home and a few more homes for families who had lost their homes in a fire in Lemon Grove. None of the projects had been started. The numbers of the company had only looked so great because Uncle Simon had cut back on programs we had going on. To the business world these might have been great but at the heart of Rosenbaum was family and community service. I was appalled that we had declined so much in this aspect because I had abandoned the company to an unfit C.E.O.

That morning I entered the office building with a heavy heart but drew strength from standing at the wall, with all the pictures of members of the family who had run this company. They were depending on me to do the right thing and if that meant ousting Uncle Simon from the company then that was exactly what I would do.

Having a renewed focus, I stopped by my office to rest my briefcase then headed for my uncle’s office.

“Good morning Mr. Rosenbaum,” the secretary greeted me. “Are you looking for Mr. Simon? He’s not in his office at the moment.”

I frowned at her because I was certain I had spotted Uncle Simon’s car parked in its usual spot. “Do you mean he’s left the building?”

“He’s in a meeting,” she answered.

“What type of meeting?”

“I think it’s a board meeting,” she replied and shrugged. Uncle surely hadn’t hired her for her intelligence. Corrupt practices like these were the reason qualified people like Bryan were being denied jobs. She would have to go along with my uncle. He could continue hiring her for the private services she offered him.

I stalked toward the conference room on the floor below, where we always held meetings when members of the board were in attendance. I didn’t want to believe my uncle would have called a meeting without inviting me, but when I pushed the door open and saw the seven faces peering at me I was livid.

“I wasn’t aware that we were having a board meeting,” I announced in the room that had gone silent. I was nervous about this meeting, but I wouldn’t show it. While I held the greatest shares in the company, the others combined would overpower my decision within the company.

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