I smiled down at the small woman that I’d known for a goodpart of my life. “I’m doing pretty good. The practice is doing well. You look great, Dora. It’s so nice to see you.” I glanced toward my father’s closed office door. “Is he on a call?” I asked.
Dora shook her head. “Nope, he’s waiting for you. Go on in, sweetie.” She gave me one more squeeze before returning to her desk.
I made my way to his door and gave one firm knock on the door as I opened it to peek inside. “Dad? You busy?”
My father stood up from his desk and came around to greet me. “Not at all. I was expecting you.” I entered the expansive office, shoving my hands into my pockets as I took in the ornately framed windows displaying beautiful views of the city and all of the dark, rich mahogany wood mixed with sleek metals. My father’s office always impressed me. He pulled me in for a hug, slapping my back. “Good to see you, son. Take a seat, please. Would you like a coffee?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m good, thanks.”
I noticed the blue folder sitting in front of me on his desk. My father followed my line of sight. “That’s everything you’ll need, but let’s discuss what I found first.”
I nodded and settled back into my chair.
My father cleared his throat and began. “Seems we should have looked into what Noah had been up to long before this, but I’ll get to that later. After some back-and-forth with his parents and HR, we were finally able to obtain his cell phone to hand over to PLM. It took a little longer than expected, but PLM found what I suspected—he had an application on his phone that allowed him to create a message thread thatappeared to be between him and the number he chose to enter. I have all the documentation in that folder that shows how the messages originated. I also had them pull his actual phone records to prove that you two never exchanged texts recently. One thing I do think we should do is have PLM extract the texts and calls from your phone as well to prove that you have zero history of messages or calls between you and Noah, as well as you and Margot.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I can do that, no problem.”
“Great. They can do that for you today. One of the associates from their firm is here.” My father leaned over and pressed the button on his intercom that was linked to Dora. “Hey, Dora, can you get Scott up here to take Dean’s phone, please?”
Dora immediately responded, “Yes, sir.” My father thanked her and settled back into his chair.
“Included in that folder is also a text exchange between him and some friend of his, essentially telling him exactly what he did. So that also helps your case.” He chuckled as he settled his hands in front of him on his desk.
Before he could continue, Dora’s voice came over the intercom. “Mr. Adler, Scott is here for the phone. Should I send him in now?”
My father pressed the talk button to respond. “Yes, please. Thanks, Dora.”
A Clark Kent look-alike, glasses and all, strode through the door, walking right up to my father to shake his hand. “Mr. Adler, good to see you. I’ll take that phone from you and get the data that you need extracted as quickly as possible.”
My father nodded. “Great, thanks, Scott.”
I stood up and handed my phone to Scott. Once he took my phone, we shook hands. “Hey, Scott, I’m Dean, and thanks for your help with this.”
Scott smiled. “Good to meet you, Dean. And not a problem, it’s my job.” With that, he turned on his heel and headed out of the office.
I sat back in the leather chair across from my father. “So, what else did you find?”
My father shook his head in disbelief. “Your cousin has been embezzling money from Frederick Developers for some time now. When PLM went through his phone records, texts records, and emails, they found evidence of him misappropriating funds for the last year. Turns out he was sleeping with a woman from accounting who helped mask it. With both of their access to certain accounts and funds, it made it easy for him to take the money and for her to cover his tracks.”
I shook my head, running my hand across the back of my neck in disbelief. “No shit? I wonder if that was the woman we found him with at his apartment.”
My father chuckled. “No telling, because we also found that he had inappropriate relationships with several different employees in the company. At the same time. It seems that the one instance of infidelity when he was with Addison wasn’t the first, just the first that she knew about.”
My blood began to boil after hearing that last part, but I managed to keep my anger in check. “That piece of shit. So, what’s going to happen with him now?” I couldn’t say I wassuper shocked by all of this, because like I’d said before, Noah was a little shit growing up, and this was just concrete proof that he never grew out of it.
“Well, me, your mother, and PLM met with your Aunt Patrice, since she and your mother are the majority shareholders. We showed her everything that we had on him before taking it to the HR team because we didn’t want to blindside her. She was shocked, upset, and disappointed, to say the least. Your uncle threatened to cut Noah out of their will and said he would figure out a way to take his trust.” My dad chuckled at his last comment before continuing, “Anyway, your aunt really didn’t want the press to get wind of this and have a giant media storm, so she took PLM’s advice, and we had him and the woman from accounting fired immediately. He will also have to forfeit his shares in the company and repay everything he stole. Otherwise, the company will file a lawsuit, and if that happens, all of this information will likely become public. Which we all know he won’t want.”
“Jesus Christ, what a fucking mess. I’m glad he’s finally getting what he deserves, that fucker.”
My father barked out a laugh. “You and me both. Anyway, so that folder should have everything that you need to show Addison, but make sure you grovel, son. You still withheld the truth from her, and she doesn’t deserve that. The poor thing dated your dipshit cousin for too long. Show her what a real man is.”
I smiled and nodded. “Yes, sir. That I can do. Thanks for everything, Dad. I don’t know that I could have fixed thiswithout your help.”
My father waved his hand in the air. “I’m sure you would have figured something out, but this just makes it a little easier.” He winked.
We spent the next hour or so just catching up on life. Scott dropped by to give me my phone back with my records to prove there was no communication between me and Noah, nor Margot, in the last year. I felt like I could finally breathe. I had the proof I needed, but now I needed to figure out how to get her back.
I had dinner with my parents and Archer that night. Archer was beside himself, giddy, even, as my father relayed to him all of the shit that Noah had pulled. I decided to stay a couple more days in California to spend some time with my family and clear my head before heading back to Texas.
