Page 38 of Billionaire Corruption

“But I don’t think we should. I should. Not while the investigation is going on.”

He leaned forward, dropping his voice.

“I’ve actually found something, I’ll tell you later.”

This wasn’t the place for a work conversation, but I was curious.

“What do you mean?”

He didn’t want to talk in a hospital cafeteria, I could see that. I could hardly blame him. But I wanted to be distracted from my brother’s problems. It stopped me from worrying about the scheduled tests and worrying about the outcome.

“Let’s go for a walk,” I said.

We put on our coats and went outside, where the day was gray and miserable. We shoved our hands deep into our pockets, my coat had a hood and as soon as it slipped over my head, I felt warm and protected. I linked my arm through Paul’s.

He looked at me, pleased.

This was dangerous territory, I knew it.

“When do you have to be at work?” I asked him.

“Three hours ago?” He laughed it off. “I told them I had to see a doctor. It’s true, isn’t it?”

I couldn’t help thinking that this was a man who knew how to bend the truth. At the same time, he was so strong, so capable. I was tired of always having to be the one in control, the person with the answers. It was exhausting looking after Toby and trying to sort out my own life.

“So, what did you find out?”

Paul looked over his shoulder, but we were alone. There were not many people outside and most were rushing to and from cars, trying to get to the hospital.

“The chief financial officer, Jerome Cobb, was responsible for setting up the South American operations. He created the duplicate accounts and the shell companies, setting up the way money should be transferred between them. He has a house in the Cayman Islands, bought off the profits of these deals.”

“Can you prove any of this?”

“I found an email he sent to someone at Ladden in Lima, Chile, in which he asks that money be paid into a particular account, which anyone can see is clearly his own.”

“Would you give that to the team?” I asked, my heart beating faster.

Paul’s voice dropped even lower. “I don’t want it getting out that I ratted him out,” he said.

I nodded. “I don’t have to say how I found it.”

I tried to think whether people had seen us together. But since we’d started seeing each other, we’d been discreet. I’d been to his office a few times, but we were never anything but professional.

“I can say someone approached me at Ladden and gave me the information anonymously.”

Paul nodded slowly.

“That could work.”

I walked him to his car.

He unlocked it and before he got in, I quickly said, “Thank you for helping, with Toby.”

“Of course,” he said.

Without warning, he leaned in to kiss me. His lips were warm in the chilly morning air, I felt myself responding to him even as my mind was warning me not to. I wanted to be with him, I wanted to be held and comforted by him. I kissed him back and felt his arms pulling me close. We broke apart for a moment to catch our breath.

We laughed, still standing with our arms around each other.

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