Chapter 2 - The Name on the Audit
Clara had not come to the gala to dance.
She had come to find a missing signature.
For six weeks, she had been reviewing financial records connected to Moretti Holdings, the corporation behind the foundation's hospitals, construction projects, and charitable investments.
At first, the numbers looked clean.
Too clean.
Payments had been divided into small transfers, routed through companies that technically existed but appeared to do almost nothing.
Then Clara found the same accounting pattern repeated three years earlier.
Three hundred million dollars.
Gone.
Not stolen in one obvious transaction.
Moved slowly.
Carefully.
Buried inside legitimate expenses.
She had prepared a private audit report and scheduled a meeting with the foundation's board for Monday morning.
But yesterday, one of the files had disappeared from her office.
And tonight, someone had made certain she would be publicly humiliated.
Clara sat in a private washroom cleaning blood from her palm when the door opened.
Lorenzo stood outside.
“You shouldn't be here,” she said.
“I could say the same.”
“I work for the audit committee.”
“I know.”
Clara stopped.
That was not public information.
“How?”
Lorenzo didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked at the cut across her palm.
“Who else has seen the report?”
“Three people.”
“Names.”
“Not yet.”
His eyes hardened.
“Clara, someone knew exactly where you would be standing tonight.”
She studied him.
“You think the shove was planned?”
“I don't think.”
He glanced toward the hallway.
“I know.”
Clara remembered the stranger retreating toward the exit.
“What about your watch?”
Lorenzo looked down.
The gold watch still showed 9:17.
“It stopped when someone hit me earlier.”
“Someone hit you?”
“Not tonight.”
Clara felt the first real chill.
“What happened at 9:17?”
Lorenzo finally looked at her.
“That,” he said quietly, “is what I need you to help me remember.”
Before Clara could answer, footsteps approached.
Someone was coming.
And the voice outside the door belonged to the chairman of the foundation.
“Mr. Moretti,” the man called. “We need to talk about the audit.”
May you like
Clara and Lorenzo exchanged a look.
Neither of them opened the door.
