Chapter6
1088 Words
The office felt different now.
Ever since that night on the rooftop, a subtle shift hung in the air between Maya and Dante. No one else seemed to notice—but Maya felt it like static. Every email, every hallway glance, every late meeting carried a current. A secret humming beneath the surface.
And secrets came with a price.
She sat at her desk, rereading the internal finance report for the third time. Something still wasn’t adding up. Jared’s manipulation wasn’t limited to one contract. The deeper she looked, the more it seemed like threads were missing—payments diverted, shell accounts, inconsistencies no one had flagged.
Unless they’d been told not to.
Her phone buzzed. Unknown number.
She stared at it, unease curling in her stomach.
She answered. “Hello?”
A familiar voice cut through the line. Cold. Smooth. Poisonous.
“Still playing detective, Maya?”
She froze instantly.
“Ethan,” she said flatly.
“I saw your name in a little industry piece. Congratulations on the Valerio job. Must be fun playing secretary to the ice king himself.”
“What do you want?”
He laughed softly. “Just to remind you that I’m still around. And watching.”
She ended the call.
Her hand trembled slightly as she set the phone down. The sound of Ethan’s voice after weeks of silence was like a wound tearing back open.
He knew where she worked. How long until he knew what she was involved in?
Before she could spiral further, her screen pinged with a message from Dante:
Conference Room 4. Now. – D
Maya grabbed her notebook and went.
—
Dante was already there when she arrived, suit jacket off, sleeves rolled up, leaning over a table of spreadsheets and flagged documents. His jaw was tense.
“What is it?” she asked.
He glanced up. “You were right. Jared’s fraud goes deeper than one deal.”
Maya stepped closer, eyes scanning the highlighted lines.
“This is embezzlement,” she whispered. “Millions.”
He nodded. “I confronted one of our senior accountants. She cracked under pressure. Jared used fake shell companies. Diverted funds during mergers. It’s been happening for years.”
“Why hasn’t the board noticed?”
“Because they trust him,” Dante said bitterly. “They think I’m the one trying to sabotage the family. I tried to bring this up last year. No one listened.”
Maya met his gaze. “So what do we do?”
He sat, rubbing his hands together. “We need someone from the inside. Someone who handled the books. If we get a whistleblower, we can take it to legal and quietly remove him.”
“And if we don’t?”
“Then Jared burns this place down before we touch him.”
The door creaked open. Dante’s assistant poked in.
“Mr. Valerio—your brother’s here.”
Maya felt her pulse spike.
Dante’s expression darkened. “Send him in.”
She stepped back as Jared Valerio entered, flashing his perfectly practiced smile. Sharp suit, Rolex watch, every inch the charming executive. Except his eyes—cold and calculating.
“Maya,” Jared said with a smirk. “Still working late with my brother, I see?”
Dante moved between them. “Cut it.”
Jared raised his hands. “Relax. I just wanted to check in. I heard rumors you were digging around old deals. I thought maybe we could discuss that—privately.”
“I don’t make private deals with liars,” Dante said flatly.
Jared’s smile faltered. “Be careful, little brother. You’re starting to sound paranoid.”
“And you’re starting to sound nervous.”
Jared turned to Maya. “Enjoy the ride while it lasts. When this house of cards falls, he won’t be able to protect you.”
Then he left, the door slamming just hard enough to make a point.
—
Maya couldn’t sleep that night.
Ethan’s call echoed in her mind, tangled with Jared’s threats and Dante’s silence. She stared at the ceiling of her small apartment, the city lights blinking like warnings outside the window.
She was in too deep.
But every time she thought of walking away, she remembered how Dante had looked that night on the rooftop. The weariness. The honesty.
He was fighting to clean up someone else’s mess—and the more she helped him, the more she realized he wasn’t the villain the media painted him to be.
She got up, opened her laptop, and went back into the company archives.
It was time to dig deeper.
—
The next morning, Maya stepped into Dante’s office with two coffees and a plan.
“I found something,” she said.
Dante looked up, exhausted but alert. “What is it?”
She slid a folder onto his desk.
“A woman named Eliza Trent. Former senior finance officer. Resigned suddenly two years ago after the Mergeon acquisition—one of the deals Jared tampered with.”
“I remember her,” Dante said slowly. “She left right after I confronted Jared about irregularities. She wouldn’t back me up.”
“She was paid to stay quiet,” Maya said. “But I think she’s ready to talk now.”
Dante leaned forward. “How do you know?”
“Because I already reached out.”
His eyebrows rose.
“I didn’t give details,” Maya said quickly. “Just that I was with Valerio now and wanted to talk about some inconsistencies she flagged in a past audit. She agreed to meet.”
Dante stared at her for a long moment. Then—unexpectedly—he smiled.
“You’re not just an analyst,” he said.
“No,” she replied. “I’m not.”
—
They met Eliza in a quiet coffee shop near the edge of the city.
She was in her forties, hair pulled back tight, eyes wary but sharp. When Dante sat across from her, she looked uncomfortable.
“I didn’t expect you,” she said to him. “Thought I’d be meeting your assistant.”
“She’s not my assistant,” Dante said. “She’s the one who found the first tampered contract.”
Eliza studied Maya, then slowly nodded. “I should’ve come forward sooner
Eliza glanced around nervously, then leaned in. “But back then, I was scared. Jared had power, friends on the board. Speaking up would’ve cost me everything—including my career.”
- Writer
