Chapter 4 - The Audit Trap
The silence in the diner booth was deafening. Parker buried his face in his hands, his shoulders slumping under the weight of his own failure.
"I messed up," Parker choked out, looking at seven-year-old Dustin, who was staring quietly at his milk glass. "Dustin, buddy... I'm so sorry. I should have come up here sooner. I should have checked on you."
Dustin didn't answer. He simply reached out and took Clarissa's hand, seeking safety in his mother.
Clarissa pulled a Manila folder out of her leather shoulder bag and laid it on the table beside the tablet. "There’s more, Parker."
Parker looked up, brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"I work as the senior financial analyst for Mercer & Croft," Clarissa said coldly. "Part of my job includes auditing commercial credit applications across the regional banking network. Yesterday morning, before I left for my extra shift, a flagged file crossed my desk."
She opened the folder, revealing a series of loan applications filed under Parker’s boutique architectural firm, Bolaro Designs.
"Ellie isn't just trying to steal my real estate, Parker," Clarissa explained, pointing at a signature at the bottom of a two-million-dollar commercial loan application. "She’s been using your firm as a front to launder her husband’s failed construction debts. She forged your corporate signature six months ago."
Parker froze, the blood completely draining from his face. "What? No... Ellie doesn't have access to my corporate accounts!"
"She’s your head of bookkeeping, Parker!" Clarissa snapped, leaning in close. "You hired her because she’s your sister and she needed a job after Mark abandoned her! She’s been siphoning funds from your payroll account to pay off Mark's offshore creditors, and when the audit hits your firm next Friday, you are the one who is going to federal prison for bank fraud—not her."
Parker stared at the documents, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps. He pulled the papers closer, frantically skimming the numbers, the forged signatures, the fraudulent tax returns stamped with his corporate seal.
The grand conspiracy wasn't just about Clarissa's money. Ellie and Alana were playing a double game. They were going to frame Parker for financial fraud, use the stolen real estate from Clarissa to pay off their own debts, and leave both Parker and Clarissa destroyed while they walked away clean.
"They... they set me up," Parker whispered, his voice trembling violently. "My own mother. My own sister."
"Alana has always favored Ellie," Clarissa said without pity. "Ellie is her biological daughter; you were always the provider they used when things got tough. They don't care about you, Parker. They care about survival and greed."
Parker looked up at Clarissa, tears streaming down his face. "What do I do? Clarissa, please... help me. I can't go to prison."
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Clarissa leaned back against the vinyl booth, her gaze iron-clad and unyielding.
"You are going to do exactly what I tell you to do," she said. "Starting with a call to the bank's fraud department. And then, we are going to set a trap."
