Chapter 4

I called out, "Henry, do you know?"

Henry's face was completely drained of color, his eyes darting nervously behind his glasses.

"I— That's not what was in the financial report—" he stammered.

I said, "The financial report shows a profit of 2.9 million dollars, but that includes accounts receivable not due for three months, delayed supplier payments, and a bad debt classified as investment income."

I didn't look at anyone. But I knew Andrew and Sophia both lowered their heads at the same time.

"Whose idea was this?" I asked.

I stared them down.

Silence.

"I'll ask again. Whose idea was this?" I pressed.

"It was Sophia!" someone blurted out.

Everyone turned to look at the person who spoke up.

It was Henry. He was standing by his chair, his forehead drenched in sweat, his glasses askew, but he didn't even bother to push them back.

He said, "It was her! She told Mr. Grant that if we made the financial reports look good, investors would be willing to put more money in! I warned her there were risks, but she said it was fine, and Mr. Grant gave the final approval!"

Sophia shrieked, "Henry! Stop throwing me under the bus!"

Henry shot back, "Me? I've got the emails. Every single one was sent by you, with the subject line 'Financial Report Optimization Plan,' and copied to both Mr. Grant and me!"

"Enough." Andrew finally spoke up. His voice was so low, like he had to force every word out.

He looked at me. "Laura, what do you want?"

I said, "I don't want anything. I want to ask you one question."

"What is it?"

"Ten years ago, you told me that as long as I helped you, everything would be ours in the future. Do you remember that?"

Andrew didn't answer.

The whole room was dead silent.

Helen had somehow ended up sitting in a chair, curled up into a ball, the crumpled divorce agreement lying at her feet, but she didn't even glance at it.

"I'll ask you all one last time," I said, scanning the room. "Are you going to withdraw that nine million dollars?"

Andrew closed his eyes.

Sophia kept her head down, her fingers swiping aimlessly across her phone screen, but she didn't open anything.

Henry stared at his shoes.

No one answered me.

I said, "Fine. Since you're not going to withdraw it, we'll do this by the book."

I turned to Jason. "Let the legal team know. We're filing for share ownership confirmation at nine tomorrow morning."

"Got it," Jason replied, pulling out his phone and heading to the door to make the call.

Andrew suddenly straightened up.

"Laura!" he called out.

He rushed over and stopped right in front of me, his voice suddenly softening. "Don't do this. If you want to talk, let's do it at home. No need to air our dirty laundry in front of everyone."

Andrew reached out, trying to grab my wrist.

I stepped back.

His hand hung awkwardly in the air.

I shot back, "Talk at home? Which home are you talking about? The riverside apartment you set up for Sophia, or the old house your mom kept nagging me to move out of?"

His hand dropped. He lowered his voice. "I know you're upset. I can take care of Sophia."

Sophia stiffened behind Andrew.

He said, "I can have her return the bonus, all of it. You can make the decisions at the company, and we can sit down and talk about the shares. As long as you unfreeze the accounts, we can work everything out."

Andrew's expression was something I'd never seen in ten years. Head down, cautious, like he was a completely different person.

Ten years. Andrew had never spoken to me like this before.

I looked at him, saying nothing.

For a split second, I almost believed he was being sincere. But only for a split second.

Because Sophia walked over.

She leaned in close to Andrew, her voice barely above a whisper, but I was close enough to catch every word.

She said, "Andrew, is there any way that the shareholding agreement she's got could be a fake? It's a ten-year-old document. Who knows if it's real? Keep her calm for now, and have the lawyers check it later."

Andrew's expression changed. The softness that had just appeared on his face vanished in an instant.

He straightened up and looked at me again. "Laura, the authenticity of what you've presented still needs to be verified. Until then, I'm still the legal representative and actual controller of BrightPath Group."

He turned to the room and said, "From this moment on, Laura Winters no longer holds any position in the company. Her directorship is terminated immediately."

Helen, as if she'd gotten a shot of adrenaline, jumped to her feet. "That's right! She's here to cause trouble! Andrew, you should've done this ages ago!"

Andrew turned to the bank branch manager and said, "As for the account freeze, my lawyers will be in touch with you tomorrow. Until the court makes a ruling, you have no right to freeze my company's accounts."

The branch manager's face was expressionless. "Our freeze is based on the dispute clause in the shareholding agreement. We don't need a court ruling. The agreement is registered with the business bureau. We can verify its authenticity at any time."

Andrew's face stiffened for a moment.

Then he turned to me and gave a mocking smile. "Laura, do you think you've won? If you want to take me to court, I'll be there. But are you sure you can afford a lawyer? You only make 2,700 dollars a month."

Andrew buttoned his suit jacket, straightened his tie, and announced, "Meeting adjourned."

He headed for the door with Sophia.

Helen followed right behind, shooting me a vicious glare as she passed.

The shareholders got up in small groups, not looking at Andrew or me, all of them just scrolling through their phones.

Within three minutes, the huge conference room was empty except for me, Jason, and the three bank reps by the door.

Jason walked over and lowered his voice. "Ms. Winters, he's right about one thing. It takes time to change the legal representative. If he really wants to drag this out and refuses to cooperate, he can still act as chairman for now."

"I know," I said.

Jason hesitated. "There's something else. Michael just sent word."

I looked at him.

"It's not just the nine million dollars that's been embezzled from BrightPath's accounts," he said.

He handed me the tablet. The screen showed a spreadsheet, packed with numbers.

Jason said, "Over the past two years, through fake projects and inflated expenses, the total amount transferred out is—"

He pointed at the screen.

I saw the number. 25 million dollars.

The only names on the receiving end were Sophia and Andrew's younger brother, Brian Grant.

This wasn't just about a bonus. This was about gutting a company from the inside out.

I put the tablet away and said, "Tomorrow, I need you to set up a meeting for me."

"With whom?" Jason asked.

"Edward Foster," I replied.

Jason's eyes lit up.

Edward was BrightPath's biggest competitor. He was the chairman of Foster Holdings, the second-largest real estate company in the city.

Three years ago, he came to see me in person. Not as Mrs. Grant, but as someone else.

"Understood," Jason said.

*****

At nine the next morning, Andrew sent out a notice in the company group chat.

Andrew: [Effective immediately, Laura Winters is no longer holding any position at BrightPath Group. All departments are to disregard any instructions from her. Anyone who violates this will be treated as a serious disciplinary offense.]

Sophia was the first to reply: [Got it.]

Then came a string of [Got it] replies, all perfectly aligned, like they'd been copied and pasted.

I sat at home, staring at that message on my phone screen.

Then I turned off my phone.

At two in the afternoon, Jason's car pulled up outside.

I got in the car.

"Mr. Foster's meeting is at three, at the Cloud Summit Club," Jason said.

"Got it," I replied.

The Cloud Summit Club was up in the hills on the north side of the city, a forty-minute drive away.

On the way, Jason handed me a file. "Michael put this together. Detailed records of all the suspicious money flows over the past two years."

I opened it. Every transaction had the date, amount, purpose, recipient, and a scanned copy of the approver's signature.

And in the approver column, every single one was signed by Andrew.

"How much did Sophia get?" I asked.

"13 million dollars," Jason replied.

"And Brian?"

"12 million dollars. Plus the nine million dollars from yesterday, that's a total of 34 million dollars."

I closed the file.

34 million dollars.

Ten years ago, I put in 1.5 million dollars. In ten years, they managed to siphon off 34 million dollars from the company.

The car pulled up in front of the Cloud Summit Club.

Edward was already waiting for me in the private room.