Chapter 5 - The Secretary Who Knew Where Every Dollar Went
For thirty-six hours, Vivian barely left the forty-second floor.
Screens covered Damon’s conference room.
Bank records, transfers, corporate filings, vendor accounts.
Damon brought coffee at 2:00 a.m.
Vivian stared at it.
“You made this?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He placed it beside her.
“Anything?”
“Julian is clever.”
“That sounded almost complimentary.”
“It isn’t.”
She rotated her laptop.
“He recreated his father’s system.”
Damon leaned closer.
“Explain.”
“Small amounts removed from legitimate Cross transactions, routed through inactive subsidiaries, consolidated overseas.”
“How much?”
“Over six years?”
Vivian typed.
A number appeared.
Damon’s expression became unreadable.
“Twenty-eight million?”
“Twenty-eight point four.”
“And nobody noticed?”
“I noticed.”
Damon looked at her.
“Eventually.”
For the first time in hours, Vivian smiled.
Then the conference-room doors opened.
Three senior Cross executives entered.
Behind them came Sebastian Moretti.
Vivian stood.
“What is this?”
Damon answered.
“Insurance.”
Moretti sat.
“Show me.”
Vivian hesitated.
Damon nodded.
For twenty minutes she explained everything.
Nobody interrupted.
When she finished, Sebastian leaned back.
“Your mother would be proud.”
Vivian’s face tightened.
“You didn’t know her well enough to say that.”
Sebastian accepted the rebuke.
“You’re right.”
Damon looked at his executives.
“Julian is removed from every Cross account effective immediately.”
One man shifted.
“He’s family.”
“So am I.”
“He’ll retaliate.”
Damon’s voice remained quiet.
“Then choose which Cross you work for.”
Nobody moved.
Damon nodded.
“Good.”
Vivian closed her laptop.
“What happens to him?”
Damon looked at her.
“What do you think happens?”
“I think you do things I deliberately avoid knowing about.”
Sebastian almost smiled.
Vivian continued.
“But this time, you don’t.”
Damon stared at her.
“You’re giving me orders again.”
“I’m making a request.”
“Sounds remarkably similar.”
“Turn the evidence over to federal investigators.”
Everyone in the room reacted.
One executive actually laughed.
“You want the Cross Syndicate to invite federal investigators into our finances?”
Vivian looked at him.
“No. I want legitimate evidence of embezzlement provided through attorneys, restricted to the corporations Julian exploited.”
Sebastian chuckled.
“She really is your secretary.”
Damon ignored him.
“You think prison is enough?”
“I think becoming the kind of man your father was accused of being would prove nothing.”
That silenced him.
Vivian stepped closer.
“Your father protected my mother when she discovered the theft, didn’t he?”
Damon looked toward Sebastian.
Sebastian nodded.
“Nathaniel tried.”
Vivian looked back at Damon.
“Then finish what he started without repeating what destroyed them.”
Damon studied her for a long moment.
“All right.”
One executive protested.
“Damon—”
“I said all right.”
That ended the discussion.
By afternoon, lawyers had the files.
By evening, Julian’s access to the organization was gone.
At 6:40, Vivian returned to her desk.
She began packing.
Damon appeared.
“What are you doing?”
“Leaving.”
“For tonight?”
“For good.”
His expression changed.
“No.”
Vivian actually laughed.
“No?”
“You’re not resigning.”
“I believe that's traditionally my decision.”
“Vivian.”
She placed her planner into a box.
“You humiliated me for entertainment.”
“I know.”
“You spent three years looking through me.”
“I know.”
“And after discovering I’m useful in a crisis, suddenly you want me here?”
“That isn’t why.”
“Then why?”
Damon opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Vivian waited.
The great Damon Cross, feared by half the city, had no answer.
Finally, she picked up the box.
“That’s what I thought.”
She walked toward the elevator.
“Vivian.”
She stopped.
Damon approached but kept his distance.
“I was cruel.”
“Yes.”
“I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
She looked surprised.
Damon continued.
“I invited you because I thought humiliating you would entertain me.”
His jaw tightened with disgust at himself.
“Instead you walked into that room and made me realize I’d spent three years confusing quietness with weakness.”
Vivian’s expression softened slightly.
But she still pressed the elevator button.
“An apology doesn’t erase it.”
“I know.”
The doors opened.
“What do you want from me?” she asked.
Damon answered quietly.
“A chance to become someone who deserves your respect.”
Vivian stepped into the elevator.
“Then become him.”
The doors closed between them.
May you like
And Damon let her go.
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