Chapter 6 - THE ACCOUNT THAT COULD DESTROY ALDERSTONE
Lexington was not a bank.
It was a model house.
When Emily was twelve, Ray had helped her build her first architectural model for a school competition.
She called it Lexington House because she had copied the front porch from a home she saw during a family trip to Kentucky.
The model still sat in Linda’s attic.
They found it at 11:43 that night.
Dusty.
Cracked.
One chimney missing.
Emily turned it over.
Something rattled.
Inside the base was a flash drive.
Jonathan stared.
“Your father hid evidence in your seventh-grade architecture project?”
“Eighth.”
“Important distinction.”
“Extremely.”
Despite the tension, he smiled.
They opened the drive on an offline laptop.
Financial records appeared.
Invoices.
Emails.
Bank transfers.
Inspection documents.
Then a spreadsheet.
More than $38 million had been siphoned from Alderstone projects.
Malcolm was involved.
But he wasn’t alone.
Emily scrolled down.
Jonathan suddenly reached for the laptop.
“Stop.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
One authorization name appeared repeatedly.
CHARLES ALDER.
Jonathan’s father.
Emily went silent.
Jonathan stared at the screen.
“No.”
The documents suggested Charles had authorized payments to shell contractors.
If authentic, Alderstone’s founder had not merely hidden fraud.
He had participated in it.
Jonathan walked away.
Emily followed him outside.
He stood in Linda’s backyard beneath the porch light.
“My entire career,” he said, “was built on fixing what people said my father did badly.”
Emily said nothing.
“He was brilliant. Difficult. Obsessed with the company.”
Jonathan laughed bitterly.
“I spent seventeen years trying to become the version of him people respected.”
“And now?”
“Now I find out maybe I’ve spent seventeen years protecting a lie.”
Emily stepped beside him.
“You don’t know that yet.”
“The signatures are there.”
“So are forged signatures using my father’s name.”
Jonathan looked at her.
That stopped him.
The next morning, forensic specialists examined the drive.
Their conclusion changed everything.
Charles Alder’s approvals had been digitally altered.
Someone had inserted his authorization after the original files were created.
Malcolm was framing a dead man.
But one document was authentic.
An email from Charles to Alderstone’s board.
Terminate Pierce immediately. Notify federal investigators. Ray Carter’s documentation is credible.
Timestamp: four days before Ray died.
The email had never been sent.
It had remained in drafts.
Why?
The answer came from an old calendar.
Charles Alder suffered his fatal heart attack that same afternoon.
Jonathan sat alone in his office after reading it.
Emily entered quietly.
“He was going to expose them.”
Jonathan nodded.
“For nine years I thought my father protected the company instead of doing the right thing.”
“He tried.”
“Too late.”
“Maybe.”
Jonathan looked at her.
She sat opposite him.
“My dad used to say being late to the right decision doesn’t make it wrong.”
“Your father had a lot of sayings.”
“He was extremely annoying.”
Jonathan laughed.
Emily smiled.
Something had changed between them.
It had been changing for days.
Not because he was wealthy.
Not because she worked for him.
Because grief recognized grief.
Jonathan looked at her for a moment too long.
Emily noticed.
So did he.
He looked away.
“Emily.”
“Yes?”
“This investigation creates a conflict.”
“What kind?”
“You report into my office.”
“Temporarily.”
“And I’m finding it increasingly difficult to pretend my interest in you is entirely professional.”
Emily’s heart slammed against her ribs.
Jonathan continued before she could answer.
“So until your reporting line changes, I won’t act on it.”
Emily stared.
“That might be the least romantic romantic statement anyone has ever made.”
His mouth twitched.
“I’m a developer.”
“Clearly.”
“Was that a rejection?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
Emily stood.
“It was an observation.”
She reached the door.
“Emily?”
She turned.
“Once my reporting line changes?”
She smiled.
“Improve your presentation, Mr. Alder.”
Then she left.
For approximately six minutes, Jonathan Alder forgot that his company was in crisis.
Then his phone rang.
The forensic auditor had found the final beneficiary behind the stolen money.
Not Malcolm.
Vanessa Cole.
The talent director.
Emily’s interviewer.
And according to corporate records, Vanessa was Malcolm Pierce’s half sister.
The relationship had never been disclosed.
Jonathan immediately ordered security to locate her.
Too late.
Vanessa had left the building.
Her computer was wiped.
Her corporate phone lay in a trash can.
And Emily’s personnel file was missing again.
Jonathan ran from his office.
“Where’s Emily?”
Her desk was empty.
A colleague looked up.
“She left ten minutes ago.”
“With whom?”
“She said HR called her downstairs.”
Jonathan went completely still.
HR had not called Emily.
His phone buzzed.
A message.
Unknown number.
A photograph loaded.
Emily sat inside a car.
Her face was frightened.
Beneath the photograph:
END THE AUDIT OR SHE LEARNS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO HER FATHER.
Jonathan stared at the screen.
Then called the police.
Because whoever had taken Emily had just made one enormous mistake.
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They believed Jonathan Alder cared more about saving Alderstone than saving her.
They were about to discover how wrong they were.
