Chapter 3 - The Ledger in the Wine Cellar
Claire didn't disappear.
Not immediately.
For three weeks, Blackstone Terminal became the strangest refuge imaginable.
Damian never entered her room without knocking.
Nobody touched her belongings.
Nobody asked her to serve meals.
Instead, Claire discovered Damian had another problem.
His books were a disaster.
She found it accidentally.
One afternoon, Evelyn was swearing inside the old wine cellar.
Claire leaned through the doorway.
"Problem?"
"Three hundred bottles and an inventory system designed by an idiot."
Claire examined the ledger.
"You've duplicated your Burgundy shipments."
Evelyn frowned.
"What?"
Claire pointed.
"These numbers aren't bottle counts. They're case counts."
Evelyn stared.
Then laughed.
"Boss!"
Damian appeared ten minutes later.
Claire was sitting on the cellar floor surrounded by invoices.
"You did this?"
"I fixed it."
"You understand accounting?"
"Community college."
"You never graduated."
Her head snapped up.
"How do you know?"
"I investigated Patrick."
"And me?"
"You lived with Patrick."
"So yes."
Damian didn't apologize.
Claire closed the ledger.
"You owe the distributor eleven thousand less than Evelyn thought."
Evelyn crossed her arms.
"I like her."
Damian ignored that.
"Can you audit the rest?"
Claire hesitated.
"For money?"
"Obviously."
"Real wages?"
"Real wages."
"No debt deductions?"
"No debt."
Claire held out her hand.
"Thirty dollars an hour."
Evelyn coughed to hide a laugh.
Damian looked at Claire's hand.
"Twenty."
"Twenty-eight."
"Twenty-two."
"Twenty-six."
"Twenty-five."
Claire smiled.
"Deal."
Damian shook her hand.
It was the first time they'd touched.
Neither mentioned it.
Over the next month, Claire rebuilt the inventory system.
Then she discovered something else.
Someone was stealing from Damian.
Small amounts.
Hidden cleverly.
She carried the ledger into his office.
"Your freight manager is skimming."
Damian looked up.
"Who?"
"Samuel Trent."
"Impossible."
"That's usually what people say before accountants ruin Thanksgiving."
Damian took the folder.
Five minutes later, his expression hardened.
"How much?"
"At least four hundred thousand."
Damian reached for his phone.
Claire grabbed his wrist.
"Don't."
His eyes moved toward her hand.
She released him.
"Sorry."
"Why shouldn't I call him?"
"Because if he knows you've discovered it, he'll run."
"What do you suggest?"
Claire pulled out another ledger.
"Let him steal more."
Damian stared at her.
She smiled.
"Then follow the money."
For the first time since she'd met him, Damian Voss laughed.
Quietly.
Briefly.
But genuinely.
"You may be more dangerous than I am."
Claire leaned against his desk.
"No."
She looked at the numbers.
May you like
"I'm just better at math."
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