Chapter 2 - The CFO's Bargain
Derek Wills did not look like a corporate executive when he was dragged into the library. His silk tie had been torn, his shirt was wrinkled, and his expensive hair styling was ruined by sweat. Yet, as he looked around the room, seeing Cassandra’s tears and Rosa’s pale face, a thin, desperate arrogance crept back into his eyes.
"You have no legal right to detain me here, Nathan," Derek said, brushing the guards' hands off his shoulders. "This is false imprisonment. My lawyers will have your entire security team in handcuffs by morning."
Nathan stood up from behind the desk, his presence filling the space between them. He didn't use physical force, but the sheer coldness of his gaze made Derek step backward until his spine hit the mahogany bookshelf.
"The federal authorities are forty minutes away, Derek," Nathan said, tossing the black memory card onto the table. "This contains the digital signature of the foundation's core ledger. The one you thought you wiped eighteen months ago. The one Daniel Mendez died protecting."
Derek’s eyes flickered to the card, a brief flash of panic breaking through his armor. "A memory card found in a wedding dress? Any defense attorney will have that thrown out as chain-of-custody garbage. You can’t prove I transferred that money, and you certainly can’t prove I had anything to do with Mendez’s truck leaving the road."
"I can," Cassandra spoke up, her voice trembling but filled with a sudden, venomous spite. She looked at Derek with pure hatred. "Because I didn't just save the financial records, Derek. I recorded our phone call from the night Daniel died. It’s on that card. The call where you told me the 'problem' had been handled on Route 17 and that I needed to keep my mouth shut if I wanted to wear a Hargrove ring."
The silence that followed was heavy enough to crush the air from the room. Derek’s face drained of color, turning a sickly, translucent gray. He looked at Cassandra, his lips moving but producing no sound.
"You stupid bitch," Derek finally whispered, his voice cracking. "You ruined everything to save yourself."
"She saved her own skin, Derek, but she didn't save yours," Nathan said, leaning against the desk. "The Hargrove Foundation has built clinics in four states. That money was meant for pediatric cardiac equipment in rural counties. You stole thirty million dollars from dying children, and you murdered an innocent man to cover the tracks. There is no bail big enough, and no lawyer expensive enough, to save you from what’s coming."
"I wasn't alone, Nathan," Derek suddenly said, his voice dropping into a desperate, hurried pitch. He stepped closer to the desk, his eyes darting toward the window as if checking for the flashing lights of the police. "You think I could pull off a thirty-million-dollar offshore routing transfer through the foundation’s primary accounts without someone on the board signing off on the secondary verification? I’m the CFO, not the goddamn owner."
Nathan’s brow furrowed, a cold dread settling deep in his stomach. "The board consists of seven people, Derek. Three of them are my cousins. Two are retired federal judges. The chairman is my mother."
Derek let out a short, ugly laugh. "Your cousins don't know an asset from a liability, Nathan. And the judges only look at the annual reports your mother gives them." He leaned down, placing both hands on the mahogany desk, staring straight into Nathan’s eyes. "Who do you think introduced me to the maritime logistics firm in Panama? Who do you think authorized the internal security override that allowed me to access the Savannah branch servers without triggering the main office alarms?"
Nathan felt the world shift slightly beneath his feet. The foundation hadn't just been infiltrated by a corrupt executive; the rot was coming from the very foundation of his family.
"Name them," Nathan commanded.
"Not until I get a written agreement from the federal prosecutor for a protected facility and a reduced charge," Derek countered, his eyes gleaming with the rat-like survival instinct that had made him a corporate success. "I’m not going to a maximum-security penitentiary where people like me get chewed up and spat out. You give me a head start with the District Attorney, and I’ll give you the person who actually signed Daniel Mendez’s death warrant."
May you like
Before Nathan could answer, the heavy double doors of the library opened again. Standing there, flanked by two security guards she had clearly ignored, was Victoria Hargrove—Nathan’s mother. She was dressed in an elegant lavender mother-of-the-bride dress, her pearls immaculate, her expression completely unreadable.
"That won't be necessary, Derek," Victoria said, her voice smooth as silk and cold as ice. "Because your services to this family are officially concluded."
