Chapter 89 A Silent Betrayal
After hesitating for a long while, I turned the doorknob and walked in.
He looked up, hurriedly lowering the screen of his laptop when I walked in.
I didn’t think much of it, because a more pressing issue had clouded my mind.
“Good morning,” he said with a small smile on his face.
“I’ve been waiting for you to come in,” he added.
His smile faltered when he saw the look on my face, then he leaned forward and studied my face.
“What’s wrong, man?” he asked.
“I’m okay,” I replied.
I wanted to be gentle while I asked about what I saw, so I pulled out a seat and sank into it.
“So… I met with the manager of Horizon Developments yesterday,” he started.
Inside me, I felt a bit relieved. At least I was wrong to suspect him of sabotaging my company.
“I pleaded with him for hours, but he said there was nothing he could do about it,” he explained.
“We should count our losses at this point,” I said, my voice low.
I wanted to sound fine, even though my heart was bleeding.
And I was relieved that I was wrong about Marcus having something to do with Horizon Developments' decision to pull out.
As I walked out of Marcus’s office, the anonymous message flashed through my mind again.
“The enemy is closer than you think.”
That would mean that the real danger was out there, watching and waiting for the perfect moment to strike again.
And that person was someone I knew.
I walked into my office, sank into my chair, and dragged my hand across my face.
I didn’t know who to suspect, and that scared me more than anything.
MARCUS REED’S POV
The moment Alex walked out of my office, I leaned back into my chair, my lips curling into a small evil smirk.
If I hadn’t seen him yesterday, things could have gone awry. He would have started suspecting me of what happened and that could have destroyed my plans.
Then I returned my gaze to my laptop, watching numbers climb with each click.
Another 2,400 shares acquired through the shell company “Vanguard Holdings”, cleanly and untraceable.
At this rate, I would control twelve percent of Hart & Associates within the next ten days, and that would be enough to initiate the real conversation about new leadership.
I smiled at the screen, letting out a satisfactory smile.
Alex had no idea.
He still thought I was the loyal best friend who stayed late to help him fix clients' messes. The one who always had his back and listened to his endless rants about his mother, Joan, and his new pregnant woman.
He was wrong.
Very wrong.
And this wasn’t just business, it was payback.
I clicked on confirm purchase and the screen updated almost immediately.
Ownership: 11.8%
I smiled again.
“To old friends and the end of their reign,” I whispered.
ALEX HART’S POV
Not long after I left Marcus’s office, the accountant came in with the spreadsheet of our finances.
I didn’t review it immediately because I was busy with the blueprint for a new client.
When I was done, I opened the spreadsheet.
Then I started looking through it.
The spreadsheet blurred in front of my eyes.
I had been staring at the financials for three straight hours, auditing every transaction from the past six months, cross-examining bank statements, suppliers' payments, and client deposits.
Something was wrong.
It started with small inconsistencies like a delayed invoice, an unexplained transfer then progressed to larger ones; payments to shell vendors I didn’t recognize, refunds issued without the client's request, and a series of ‘consultancy fee’ paid to companies that didn’t exist on any public registry.
One hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars missing in the last quarter alone, not lost, but moved.
I leaned back, rubbing my eyes until I started seeing stars.
“Who the hell was doing this?” I whispered under my breath.
Was it Marcus?
No.
There was no way he could do a thing like that. It was literally the hard work of both of us.
My head started throbbing.
Could it be the accountant?
She also had access to the accounts, but she didn’t seem like someone who could be that dangerous.
Cassandra?
She didn’t know anything about my company, so how on earth would she be able to siphon my company’s funds?
At that moment, everyone seemed like a suspect.
Even my mother.
She had the reach and the connections, but there was no way she would want to sabotage her son’s company unless she wanted me to be desperate enough to marry Cassandra so that I would get help from her so-called rich family.
I glanced back at the spreadsheet and went through it again.
To double-check and be sure I hadn’t made a mistake.
It was still the same thing.
“I need to confront someone,” I muttered, running my fingers through my hair.
But who?
Who would I confront first?
Because if I were wrong, I could destroy the bond between us.
And if I didn’t take action, I might lose everything I had worked for.
I picked up the spreadsheet and laptop and headed straight to Marcus’s office.
He was on a call when I walked in.
Then mid-sentence, he ended the call and looked up, watching me as I paced the office.
“Alex. What’s…”
I didn’t even allow him to land, I just threw the spreadsheet on his table.
“What’s this?” He asked, reaching for the sheet at the top.
Marcus’s jaw tightened as he flipped through the pages.
I could see it.
The sign that he didn’t know about it prior to that time was there.
“Who the fuck did this?” he asked, his gaze fixed on the figures in front of him.
“I don’t know,” I said, leaning forward with my palms flat on the desk.
“This is theft. Straight up fucking theft.”
I wanted to talk but my throat was too tight to speak.
Marcus stood up suddenly, and paced to the window, rubbing the back of his neck.
“I don’t understand,” he said after a long moment.
“Only you and I have the credentials to authorize those transfers,” he added and turned back to me.
“I’m honestly as confused as you are,” I replied, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Wait there’s someone else,” he muttered, leaning forward and using the edge of the desk as balance.
“Who?”
”Sarah?”