Page 82 of Somebody to Save
Rolling my eyes, I straightened in my chair and flipped off the camera. Andrew laughed, but I didn’t find him exceptionally amusing when the purpose of our call was to discuss who was stealing from our company and what exactly we planned to do about it. Or when that call happened at almost three in the morning on New Year’s Day.
I couldn’t sleep, even with the most perfect woman in the world next to me and the best sex of my life only hours earlier, so I’d done what I always did when sleep eluded me. I logged into my computer.
Waiting for me between drafts I needed to review and several client emails was one from my brother that contained our external auditor’s report and one sentence in the body:
We need to discuss.
His email and the contents of the first few pages of the reportspurred my immediate response to schedule a call as soon as possible, which Andrew, who also happened to be awake, meant right then. No matter what the hour.
“Let’s keep it professional at least while we’re talking about the well-being and future of our company, okay?”
His eyes widened, and he threw up his hands in mock surrender. “Guessing the weekend hasn’t gone well then?”
Knowing we needed to get down to business but that my brother was very much invested in my new relationship, I sighed and tapped my pen against my desk.
“The weekend has been great. Perfect, actually, and I wish it would never end. Now, can we move on?”
Sufficiently appeased, Andrew nodded and pushed up the sleeves of his sweatshirt. “Well, it’s not great news. I went over our books with an external auditor, and she agreed that money is missing. She also went through all the accounting records for the past four years and found incontrovertible proof that Bill has been siphoning money from one of the client trust accounts into his own. I sent you her report that details everything, and she is available if you want to speak with her, too, but Beckett, he’s stolen over a million dollars.”
I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists on top of my desk, trying not to slam them down on the wood in anger and frustration. I’d gone down to the study, leaving Addison peacefully asleep upstairs, and that’s how I wanted it to stay. We’d had a long night, and she deserved to sleep.
In the few years since I’d taken over the business, one of my dad’s oldest friends and first employees had been stealing from us. And it had all happened right under my nose.
I feel like I’d failed everyone.
“I know you’re going to beat yourself up about this, but it’s not your fault, bro. Bill covered his tracks very well. If we hadn’t hired the external auditor, we never would’ve figured it out. He was cutting checks to a company he owned. One he set up to look like one of our vendors. And since he was in charge ofaccounting and payroll, no one ever knew. The amounts were also so small that it didn’t spur a question.”
A humorless scoff slipped from my lips, and I shook my head. “Of course I blame myself, Drew. I’m the primary owner, it’s my responsibility to oversee everything. When something like this happens, it’s because I dropped the ball. I fucked up. And a million dollars? That’s not going to be easy to fix.”
Rage flowed through my veins as I contemplated our next steps. I wasn’t looking forward to the confrontation with Bill or getting the police involved, but fuck, the anger atmyselffor letting it happen and the position we’d put the company in. The company I promised to take care of when my dad handed the keys to me.
“You’re right, it’s not going to be simple to recoup, but we’ll figure it out because there isn’t another option. And, look, I’m only going to say this one more time, and I need you to listen to me.” I heard Andrew, but I didn’t look up from where I stared down at my clenched fists. “Beckett,” he said in a harsh tone I’d only ever heard him use with opposing counsel. “This isnotyour fucking fault. It could have happened to anyone. We had no reason to suspect that he was stealing from us. But now we know, and we’re going to handle it. You can be angry all you want; you have every right to be, but eventually, you need to be Mr. Fix-it again.”
Dropping my head into my hands, I took a deep breath and for another second let the anger overwhelm me. I could feel it vibrating under my skin, making my heart race. But when I looked back up at my brother, I forced it away. Well, as much as I could. It still sat there at the back of my mind, but rather than let it dominate, I started devising a strategy and what our next steps should be.
“You’ve reviewed the entire report?” I asked, and Andrew appeared relieved that I was moving on from my self-loathing. I opened the file once again and continued scanning the impressive document.
Everything Andrew had said was confirmed in the first few pages. After that, the auditor had provided a detailed account of every check he’d forged and where the money came from and its final destination. It was a lot of forensic accounting work, and I’d read it all after our phone call was over. I probably wouldn’t be able to even attempt to sleep until I knew all the facts backward and forward.
“So, next steps…” I prompted, and Andrew leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his disheveled hair.
“I’ll defer to you, of course, but he’s on vacation until early next week. I think it’s best we confront him on his first day back in the office with HR to make sure we’re following company procedure. We also should probably notify the police, and because of the amount he’s taken, I’d suggest legal action, too.”
“I agree. We can meet with HR when I get back to discuss how we should go about it.”
“The only lingering question is, do we tell Dad?”
Fuck.The prospect of telling my dad that one of the first employees he’d hired when he started the firm—the company he’d worked his ass off to make one of the top law firms in the region—was horrible. Like Andrew, I knew he wouldn’t blame us, and he sure as hell shouldn’t blame himself. But my dad had come from nothing and made a beautiful life for himself and our family.
The business was his baby, and fucking Bill had fucked it all up. And I really didn’t want to be the bearer of that bad news. But not telling him would likely be worse.
“Yeah, we’ve gotta tell him. He’d be pissed if we kept it from him. But let’s do it after our meeting with HR, and after I’ve had a chance to read the report.”
“No problem. Works for me. I’ll book a flight soon, so I can be there for…well, for everything.”
Andrew reassured me once more that everything would be fine and that it wasn’t my fault before we hung up.
Spinning around in my chair, I looked out the floor-to-ceilingwindows at the front of the house. Snow softly fell, and my thoughts immediately floated to the second floor.
