Chapter 5 - The Hidden Truth
"Sir?" David laughed nervously, his toxic confidence beginning to violently fracture. "With all due respect, I am the general manager of this establishment. I know exactly what happens in my kitchen."
"And I know exactly what happens in my bank accounts," Roman replied smoothly, completely destroying the manager's reality in a single sentence.
The cinematic realism of the absolute, crushing shock hit David with the physical force of a freight train.
"Your... your bank accounts?" David choked out, physically staggering backward.
To understand the sheer, unhinged stupidity of David's actions, one had to understand who Roman Sterling actually was. He wasn't just a wealthy regular. Roman was the majority shareholder and absolute owner of the massive, global hospitality group that owned this exact five-star restaurant. He owned the building. He owned the brand. He literally signed David’s paychecks.
Roman had intentionally come to the restaurant tonight unannounced, completely undercover, specifically because corporate accounting had flagged a massive, ongoing financial discrepancy in the location's payroll system.
"I have been sitting here for exactly sixty minutes, David," Roman whispered coldly, holding up his glowing smartphone screen. "And in that time, my corporate security team has remotely accessed the kitchen's security cameras and the encrypted digital ledger."
David stopped breathing. All the color violently drained from his face, leaving him looking like a terrified ghost.
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"You didn't catch her stealing," Roman continued, his voice echoing perfectly across the dead-silent VIP section. "She caught you skimming twelve thousand dollars from the staff's holiday tip pool."
👉 David desperately tried to formulate a lie, but Roman was already signaling for the ultimate, flawless execution.
