His Secret Addiction

Chapter Twenty-Three

Damien's POV

The subpoena for company records arrived Thursday morning.

Every financial transaction for the past decade. Every contract Maya had processed. Every vendor relationship she'd approved. The scope was massive, and Sophie estimated it would take three weeks minimum to compile everything.

"They're building a case," she said in my office. "Not against you specifically. Against the company. They want to see how deep the network went."

"And if it went deeper than Maya?"

"Then we have a bigger problem." She set down her briefcase. "I need to bring in a forensic accounting team. Full audit. We need to find problems before the investigators do."

I approved it. Marcus started coordinating with accounting. By noon we had a team of six auditors setting up in the conference room, boxes of files already stacked against the walls.

Alex stopped by at lunch.

"This is going to get expensive," he said, looking at the auditors through the glass.

"Already is. Sophie's billing two hundred an hour. The auditors are more."

"How long can the company sustain this?"

"Long enough." I hoped that was true. "The board approved the expense. Even Sterling voted yes. He wants answers as much as anyone."

"He wants ammunition."

"That too."

---

Chen called that afternoon with an update on Maya's case.

"Her lawyer is pushing hard for a plea deal," she said. "Maya's offering testimony against other members of the network. Names we haven't identified yet."

"Does she actually have names or is she fishing?"

"Probably both. But the DA is listening. If she provides credible information that leads to other arrests, they'll consider reducing some charges."

"What does that mean for us?"

"More depositions. More questions. If she names anyone at Ross Industries, we'll need to investigate them too." Chen paused. "She's also asking to speak with Alex. Off the record. Through her lawyer."

I went still. "Absolutely not."

"That's what I told her lawyer. But I wanted you to know she asked."

After Chen hung up, I sat staring at the phone. Maya wanting to talk to Alex wasn't surprising. But the timing was calculated. She knew he was vulnerable right now. Knew he still carried guilt about not seeing what she was.

I wasn't letting her anywhere near him.

---

Victoria called an informal meeting Friday afternoon. Her office, just me and Marcus.

"The audit is already finding problems," she said without preamble. "Three vendors that don't exist. Shell companies with fake addresses. Contracts signed with Maya's authority that were never properly vetted."

"How much money?" Marcus asked.

"Eight million so far. And they're only through 2021." She pulled up a spreadsheet. "Damien, this is worse than we thought. Maya didn't just launder money through a few deals. She built an entire shadow vendor system inside the company."

I looked at the numbers. Payment after payment to companies that existed only on paper. Services never rendered. Products never delivered. All of it approved through proper channels because Maya had been the one controlling those channels.

"The board needs to see this," I said.

"Not yet. Not until we know the full scope." Victoria closed the laptop. "If we bring this to them now, Sterling will use it to force another vote. This time he might win."

"So we hide it?"

"We finish the audit first. Then we present everything at once with a plan to fix it." She looked at Marcus. "How fast can we close the shadow vendor accounts?"

"If we move quietly? Two weeks. But the moment we start closing accounts, someone might notice."

"Then we move fast. Close everything simultaneously. Lock down the vendor approval system. Install new oversight protocols." Victoria stood. "We announce it as a company-wide security upgrade. No one needs to know it's because we just found an eight million dollar hole in our finances."

It was risky. But less risky than letting Sterling control the narrative.

"Do it," I said.

*****************

I told Alex that night.

He listened without interrupting while I explained the shadow vendors, the missing money, Victoria's plan to close everything down quietly before the board found out.

"That's a lot of secrets," he said when I finished.

"It's crisis management."

"It's also the kind of thing that blows up if someone finds out you knew and didn't immediately disclose it." He leaned against the kitchen counter. "What happens if Sterling discovers you're hiding the audit findings?"

"He won't."

"You don't know that. People talk. Auditors talk. Three weeks is a long time to keep something this big quiet."

He was right. I knew he was right. But the alternative was worse.

"If we disclose now, I lose control of the company," I said. "Sterling gets his vote. The board panics. Everything we've built falls apart."

"And if you hide it and it comes out later, you look like you were covering up criminal activity." Alex crossed his arms. "I'm not saying don't do it. I'm saying think through what happens if it goes wrong."

I had thought it through. Every scenario ended badly in different ways. This was just the version where I maintained some control over the timing.

"I trust Victoria," I said. "And Marcus. If they think we can contain this, I believe them."

"Okay." He pushed off the counter. "Then I'm with you. But if this explodes, we're going to need a better plan than hope."

*******************

Saturday morning Marcus called.

"We have a problem," he said. "One of the auditors found something. A payment that doesn't fit the pattern."

"What kind of payment?"

"Fifty thousand dollars. Made last month. After Maya was already arrested." He sent me a file. "It went to one of her shell companies. Someone with access to the system made the payment and covered it up."

I opened the file. The payment was coded as a consulting fee. Approved by someone in accounting. Processed through normal channels.

"Who authorized it?" I asked.

"That's the problem. The authorization code belongs to someone who doesn't exist anymore. Eleanor's old assistant. She died two years ago."

Someone inside the company had access to old credentials. Someone who knew the system well enough to hide a payment in plain sight.

Maya's network wasn't gone. Part of it was still active.

"Pull the audit team off the historical records," I said. "Have them focus on the last six months. Every transaction. Every approval. I want to know who else is involved."

"Damien, if there's someone else inside the company—"

"Then we find them before they find us." I hung up and called Victoria.

She answered on the first ring. "I saw Marcus's email."

"Emergency board meeting. Monday morning. We disclose everything."

"Sterling will use it against you."

"He'll use it against me anyway. At least this way we're honest about it." I looked at the file Marcus had sent. Fifty thousand dollars to a dead woman's authorization code. "Someone's still here, Victoria. Someone Maya trusted enough to give access to. We can't hide that."

She was quiet for a moment. "Monday morning. I'll set it up."

I hung up and stood in my apartment, looking out at the city.

Somewhere out there was someone who'd helped Maya. Someone who was still moving money. Still covering tracks.

And we had seventy-two hours to find them before the board tore the company apart looking.