Chapter 4 - THE FIRST RULE OF WORKING FOR A DANGEROUS MAN|
Sera's first week at Vale Holdings taught her three things.
Adrian drank his coffee black, hated unnecessary meetings, and could make an entire boardroom fall silent by asking a single question.
She also learned that the man who intimidated senior executives remembered the names of the janitors, personally called employees whose family members were ill, and never raised his voice when he was truly angry.
That last discovery frightened her more than shouting would have.
On Thursday, she found him sitting alone in a conference room at nearly midnight.
Several financial reports lay scattered across the table.
“You're still here,” she said.
“So are you.”
“I have an excuse. I'm underpaid.”
He looked up.
“You negotiated your salary.”
“Under pressure.”
“You threatened to leave.”
“And you increased it.”
“An effective negotiation.”
She smiled despite herself.
Then she noticed the untouched food beside his laptop.
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
He looked back at the screen.
Sera opened the container and pushed it toward him.
“Eat.”
Adrian stared at her as though she'd ordered him to surrender a weapon.
“Do you give everyone instructions?”
“Only men who look like they're about to collapse onto expensive furniture.”
He took a bite.
For several minutes, they worked in companionable silence.
Then Sera noticed a discrepancy between two foundation reports. A donation listed as received had been transferred through a subsidiary that no longer existed.
“This doesn't make sense,” she said.
Adrian leaned over her shoulder.
“Which part?”
“The money entered the foundation's account, but the recipient organization never received it. Someone recorded the donation twice.”
“That's impossible.”
“Then explain this.”
She turned the laptop toward him.
Adrian studied the numbers, and the last trace of humor disappeared from his face.
“Don't discuss this with anyone,” he said.
Sera straightened.
“Why?”
“Because I need to know who's responsible before they realize we've noticed.”
She pulled the laptop closer.
“I'm your employee, not your accomplice.”
“I'm trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
He looked at her for a long moment.
“People who consider money more valuable than human life.”
She felt a chill.
“Is that a threat?”
“No.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
Adrian walked to the window.
“My family built its fortune through legitimate businesses. But certain people around my father used those businesses to conceal criminal transactions. When I inherited control, I spent years removing them.”
“And you succeeded?”
“Mostly.”
“Mostly isn't reassuring.”
He looked at her.
“It's the most honest answer I can give.”
Sera should have been afraid enough to quit.
Instead, she looked at the report again.
“Then let's find out who stole the money.”
Adrian watched her return to work.
For three years, he had protected himself by keeping everyone at a distance.
Now a woman who couldn't afford a new laptop was volunteering to investigate the people who had once threatened his family.
He should have sent her home.
Instead, he pulled up another chair.
May you like
“Start with the original transaction,” he said.
Neither realized that someone had already accessed the building's security system to learn exactly which files they were examining.
