Chapter 15 - THE NIGHT THE MONEY DISAPPEAREDAt 8:15 p.m., the forensic accounting team discovered that another twelve million dollars had moved out of an account connected to Corrigan Health Systems.
The transfer had been initiated through an overseas intermediary and routed into a network of companies registered under different names.
The account was not one of the original charity accounts.
It was a reserve used to support the company's ordinary operations.
But the transfer had occurred after the preservation notices, making it a potentially serious violation.
Miles received the news while sitting in a hotel room under a false reservation name.
He had left his house that morning after learning that investigators might seek access to his personal financial records.
His attorneys had advised him not to discuss the matter publicly.
He had ignored them.
Now he stared at a message from Nadia.
The transfer is complete. Do not contact me again until I send instructions.
Miles called her.
The number was disconnected.
He called again.
Nothing.
He opened the folder she had given him and found a note written on the back of a printed transaction summary.
You were never the final beneficiary.
Miles read it several times.
He had believed Nadia could help him recover the money, expose Julian, and negotiate a way out of the crisis.
Instead, she had used his desperation to obtain the original authorization files.
He called Donovan.
"Where did the twelve million go?"
"I don't know."
"You were responsible for the accounts!"
"The transfer was initiated through an authorization issued before the preservation order. The funds moved before the bank could stop it."
"Who authorized it?"
Donovan hesitated.
"The approval code belongs to your former chairman."
"Charles is dead."
"Then someone has access to his credentials."
Miles felt the room tilt.
He had never authorized the transfer.
At least, not knowingly.
He remembered Nadia's folder, the old amendment, and the name that appeared beside the original transactions.
Charles Corrigan.
"What happens now?" he asked.
"The bank will report the transfer. The board will likely suspend your remaining access. And the investigators will want to know whether you benefited."
Miles rubbed his face.
"I didn't take that money."
"I believe you."
"Will you tell them?"
"Yes."
The call ended.
Miles looked around the hotel room.
The expensive furniture, the polished floors, and the framed art suddenly seemed like props in a play he had never understood.
His phone rang again.
This time it was Richard Sterling.
"My daughter has given investigators documents connecting your company to suspicious payments," Richard said. "She has also provided a statement concerning the ballroom incident."
Miles closed his eyes.
"You're turning against me."
"I'm protecting my family."
"Your family benefited from the company."
"Then the investigators can determine whether any benefit was improper."
Miles rose.
"Do you understand what Julian is doing? He's trying to take the company."
"Perhaps. But he didn't force you to laugh while a woman was being humiliated."
Miles said nothing.
Richard continued.
"Whatever happens to your business, you are responsible for your own conduct."
The line went dead.
Miles threw his phone onto the bed.
For the first time, he considered surrendering the documents and cooperating fully.
Then he remembered the forged authorization bearing Julian's signature.
If he could establish that the entire scheme had begun under Charles Corrigan and had been concealed by someone inside Vance Capital, perhaps he could save himself.
He opened his laptop and searched for Nadia's old corporate filings.
A company name appeared.
Northbridge Advisory.
Its registered agent had changed twice.
The most recent filing listed a single controlling member.
Daniel Cross.
Miles stared at the screen.
Daniel had not merely disappeared.
May you like
He had been working with Nadia.
And the twelve million dollars might have been the price of a betrayal that had been planned long before the ballroom incident.
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