Chapter 2 - The Missing Paychecks
By eight the next morning, I was in my office.
I hadn't slept.
Neither had my attorney, Daniel Brooks.
He sat across from me with a stack of documents.
“This isn't just payroll fraud,” he said.
“What is it?”
“Potential embezzlement, tax fraud, identity misuse, falsified employment records, possibly money laundering.”
I stared at him.
“How much?”
He slid a sheet across the desk.
The preliminary estimate was more than $6.8 million.
I felt nothing for several seconds.
Then I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because the number was absurd.
“Six point eight?”
“That's what we've confirmed so far.”
“How many employees?”
“Forty-seven directly affected.”
I leaned back.
“Seven years.”
“Approximately.”
“Victor?”
“We're still tracing the money.”
I stood.
“Don't confront him.”
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know how deep this goes.”
I called Ethan.
“Keep Victor's access active.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“But if he realizes—”
“I want him to think everything is normal.”
There was a pause.
“Understood.”
Then I asked him to investigate another name.
“Lena Blackwell.”
My wife.
Ethan went silent.
“Why her?”
“Because she warned me about people inside the company.”
“You think she knew?”
“I don't know.”
That was the truth.
I didn't know anything anymore.
My wife, Lena, had died two years earlier in what investigators called a highway accident.
She had been driving home from one of our charitable foundations.
Rain.
Poor visibility.
A truck crossed the center line.
That was the official story.
I had never questioned it.
Why would I?
The police had ruled it accidental.
The insurance company had paid.
The funeral had happened.
Life had moved forward.
Except mine never really had.
I had buried myself in work.
And Victor had been there through everything.
He had handled the company's operations.
He had managed the funeral logistics.
He had even helped me choose the headstone.
I trusted him.
Maybe that had been my greatest mistake.
At noon, June appeared at my office door.
She looked uncomfortable.
“You asked to see me?”
“Yes.”
She stepped inside.
I gestured toward the chair.
“Sit.”
She did.
I pushed a document across the desk.
Her payroll history.
She looked at it.
Then her face went pale.
“I don't understand.”
“Your official salary was much higher than what you received.”
She stared at the numbers.
“How much higher?”
I told her.
She covered her mouth.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“But the agency told me…”
“I know.”
She started crying.
“I thought I wasn't good enough.”
“What?”
“They always told me if I wanted more hours, I should be grateful for what I had.”
I leaned forward.
“June, this wasn't your fault.”
She wiped her face.
“I could have sent more money to my kids.”
“Yes.”
She nodded slowly.
“Lila needed braces.”
Her voice broke.
“Micah needed speech therapy.”
I felt anger rise inside me.
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“Because I thought I was failing.”
I stared at her.
She had been carrying shame for something someone else had done.
That bothered me more than the stolen money.
“June, I'm going to make this right.”
She shook her head.
“You don't have to.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Because it happened under my name.”
She looked at me.
“And because I should have noticed.”
For the first time, she didn't look away.
“Thank you.”
Before she left, she stopped.
“There was something else.”
“What?”
“Mrs. Blackwell.”
My heart stopped.
“My wife?”
June nodded.
“She asked me about my paycheck once.”
“When?”
“About three months before she died.”
I stood.
“What did she ask?”
“She asked whether I was being paid the amount on my contract.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That I was.”
June looked nervous.
“Then she asked why I had never received certain benefits.”
I felt cold.
“What did you say?”
“I told her the agency handled everything.”
“And?”
“She said she would look into it.”
I stared at her.
“Did she ever contact you again?”
“No.”
Three months later, Lena died.
June looked at me.
“I always thought maybe she found something.”
I didn't answer.
Because I was thinking the same thing.
Maybe Lena hadn't been overthinking anything.
May you like
Maybe she had been investigating.
And maybe someone had wanted her to stop.
