Chapter 1 - THE SECOND LEDGER
The moment Victor Romano ordered the door locked, Nora Hastings realized the spilled wine had never been the real danger.
Every man at the table stopped moving.
Camilla Davenport stood behind Nora’s chair, still holding the empty wineglass, her perfect smile beginning to collapse.
“Victor,” she said carefully, “you're making a spectacle of yourself.”
Victor ignored her.
“Miss Hastings. The secondary ledger.”
Nora looked down at her tablet.
Red wine covered the screen, but the protective case had kept the device working. She wiped it with a napkin, entered her password, and opened the encrypted accounting program she had spent three weeks reconstructing.
Matteo Capotosti shifted in his chair.
“That information is confidential.”
“So is stealing from my company,” Victor replied.
Nora connected the tablet to the private dining room's presentation screen.
Rows of transactions appeared.
Construction invoices.
Freight payments.
Consulting fees.
Millions of dollars moving through companies that existed only on paper.
Nora swallowed.
“According to the records, Capotosti Development received eight point four million dollars for construction materials that were never delivered.”
Matteo laughed.
“An accounting discrepancy.”
Nora enlarged another document.
“The payments were authorized through a political consulting company called Davenport Strategic Partners.”
Camilla's glass slipped from her fingers.
It shattered against the carpet.
Victor finally turned toward her.
“Recognize the name?”
“My father's company advises hundreds of businesses.”
“Your father's company received money from mine without delivering anything.”
Camilla folded her arms.
“You can't prove he knew.”
Nora's heart thudded.
She had discovered the payments only yesterday, but there was something else.
A hidden column.
She had almost deleted it because the figures appeared unrelated to construction.
Now she opened it.
“Mr. Romano, there's another destination account.”
Victor approached the screen.
“Show me.”
A list of transfers appeared.
Each payment had been routed through a medical foundation before disappearing into private accounts overseas.
Nora felt the blood drain from her face.
The foundation's name was familiar.
Too familiar.
She had seen it printed on every invoice from her father's cancer treatment center.
The Davenport Medical Relief Foundation.
Victor noticed her expression.
“Nora?”
She couldn't answer.
The next line showed a patient identification number.
Her father's identification number.
Someone had been using his medical treatment records to move stolen money.
And the final transaction contained an instruction that made her hands go cold.
PATIENT HASTINGS — TERMINATION AUTHORIZED FRIDAY.
Nora stared at the screen.
Friday was tomorrow.
May you like
And beneath the authorization was a digital signature.
CAMILLA DAVENPORT.
