Chapter 12 – The Missing Piece
The kitchen remained eerily quiet.
No one rushed to defend Gregory Mason.
No one rushed to accuse him, either.
After everything that had happened that morning, we had all learned the same lesson.
Facts mattered more than assumptions.
Amanda slipped her phone back into her briefcase.
"The board needs to know about Gregory immediately."
Cynthia nodded.
"They'll also want every communication between him and the company."
Landen leaned against the counter, looking older than he had just a few hours earlier.
"I trusted him."
I looked at him.
"You trusted a lot of people."
He met my eyes.
"I stopped paying attention."
It was the first completely honest thing he had said all day.
Howard sighed heavily.
"I warned you years ago that you were growing too fast."
Landen gave a tired smile.
"I remember."
"You hired more people than you could supervise."
"I know."
"You delegated everything."
"I know."
"And you assumed everyone was looking out for your best interests."
Landen slowly nodded.
"I know."
The weight of those words settled over the room.
For years, Landen had believed leadership meant letting others handle the details.
He now understood that leadership also meant accountability.
Amanda's phone vibrated again.
She glanced at the screen before answering.
"Yes... this is Amanda."
She listened quietly.
"I understand."
Another pause.
"I'll let them know."
She ended the call and looked directly at us.
"The board just received another update from the forensic auditors."
Landen straightened.
"What did they find?"
Amanda opened her tablet.
"They recovered deleted emails."
Landen frowned.
"I thought the servers were backed up."
"They are."
"Deleted messages are rarely gone forever."
Cynthia gave a small nod.
"Especially from corporate systems."
Amanda continued.
"The recovered emails include correspondence between Gregory Mason..."
She paused.
"...and Derek Collins."
The room went silent.
"The former financial controller?" I asked.
"Yes."
Howard looked confused.
"I thought Derek and Gregory worked in different departments."
"They did," Amanda replied.
"But according to these emails, they communicated frequently during the last eighteen months."
Landen rubbed his temples.
"I had no idea."
Amanda scrolled through her tablet.
"Several messages discuss concerns about company finances."
"What kind of concerns?" Cynthia asked.
"Derek repeatedly questioned vendor payments."
My heart skipped.
"The fake vendors."
Amanda nodded.
"It appears Derek refused to approve several transactions."
Howard looked at his son.
"So what happened?"
Amanda read from the report.
"Three weeks later, Gregory instructed the accounting department to bypass Derek's approval for certain payments."
Landen's eyes widened.
"He couldn't do that."
"He apparently did."
I folded my arms.
"So Derek wasn't the problem."
Amanda looked at me.
"No."
"The report suggests he may have been trying to stop the problem."
A painful silence settled over the room.
Everything Landen had blamed on Derek was beginning to unravel.
Naomi's words echoed in my mind.
"You lied to everyone."
Perhaps not every lie had been intentional.
Perhaps Landen had been deceived as well.
But that didn't erase what he had done to our family.
Cedric wandered back into the kitchen carrying his favorite storybook.
"Mama?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Will you read to me later?"
I smiled.
"Of course."
He looked at Landen.
"Daddy used to read this one."
Landen's eyes filled with emotion.
"I remember."
"You haven't read it in a long time."
"I know."
Cedric held out the book.
"Maybe tonight?"
The room became quiet again.
Landen looked at me before answering.
"If your mom says it's okay."
I appreciated that.
For the first time in a long while, he wasn't making decisions for both of us.
"I think that would make Cedric happy," I said softly.
Our son grinned.
"Yay!"
He skipped back toward the living room, blissfully unaware that he had just given both of us a small moment of peace.
Amanda's phone buzzed again.
She frowned.
"This report keeps getting longer."
"What now?" Landen asked.
She read silently for several seconds.
Then her expression changed.
"This is... unexpected."
Cynthia stepped closer.
"What is it?"
Amanda looked directly at Landen.
"The auditors found something in Gregory Mason's correspondence."
"What?"
"A draft purchase agreement."
Landen frowned.
"For what?"
Amanda slowly looked at me.
"The agreement involved the sale of Bradley Commerce Creative."
The room froze.
Howard's eyes widened.
"Sale?"
Amanda nodded.
"It appears Gregory was negotiating with an outside investment group."
Landen stared at her.
"That's impossible."
"There was never any discussion about selling the company."
Amanda took a slow breath.
"According to these documents..."
She paused.
"...the buyers believed they would receive controlling ownership."
My pulse quickened.
"Controlling ownership?"
Amanda nodded.
"They were told the necessary shareholder approvals had already been secured."
Every eye turned toward me.
I knew exactly what that meant.
The forged shareholder documents.
If those papers had been accepted...
Someone could have transferred control of the company without my knowledge.
Landen whispered under his breath.
"My God..."
Amanda looked down at the final page of the report.
"There is one more detail."
No one spoke.
"The investment group transferred a substantial deposit into an escrow account two months ago."
Howard frowned.
"How much?"
Amanda looked up.
"Five million dollars."
The room fell into stunned silence.
Then she delivered the sentence none of us expected.
"As of this morning..."
May you like
She paused.
"...the entire five million dollars has disappeared."
