“Dad. Please. Tell me what’s going on?” I said exasperatedly. “What is the SEC doing here?” I asked, lowering my voice slightly.
My father turned to me and sighed, his eyes tired and dull. “Chandler brought something to my attention a few days ago…” he said tiredly.
“Ch-Chandler?” I asked, my attention hooking onto his name.
“He had his own accounting firm look into the company.”
“Wh-when was this?” I asked, feeling irritated that I was in the dark about it.
“I don’t know, Gabriella.Youwere supposed to be by his side,” he said accusingly.
I bit the inside of my cheek, not sure how to respond. He was right. I was supposed to be here to oversee things, but after everything that had happened with Chandler, I took the easy way out and left to work away from him. It was just another reason for my father to hate the idea of us two together.
“They found something,” said my father. “Something very bad that either my own accounting firm missed or was in on.”
“What was it?” I asked, my eyes searching his worriedly.
“Someone has been stealing from the company.”
“Wh-what?” I breathed.
“Millions, Gabriella.” My father’s voice on the edge of breaking.
I reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze, noting the thin skin around his knuckles. My father was getting older. He retired so he could enjoy his old age, and now he was right back in it, but this time he was in over his head. I hated this for him.
“I don’t understand.” I shook my head, trying to understand who would do something like this. I thought I knew everyone here. I considered these people not only coworkers, but friends. It made me sick that anyone would betray that trust.
“They’ve been taking money from a private account and funneling it to an off-shore account. I’ve been poring over everything, trying to figure out where the money is going and who might be doing this. I’ve come up with nothing. I don’t know who would do this.” His jaw clenched frustratedly.
“We will find them,” I said firmly.
“The SEC is looking into me,” he said, his voice shaking.
“You?” I asked, my voice shrill. “You would never do something like that. It’syourcompany. Why would you steal from yourself?”
None of this made sense.
“People do it all the time.” He shrugged. “They want to have their cake and eat it too, not interested in paying taxes. Fraud happens all the time, Gabriella.”
“But you’re not one of those people,” I said, tears forming at the backs of my eyes. I didn’t want to cry in front of him. I wanted to be strong for him, but none of this was fair. My father was a successful businessman who had worked his ass off to get where he was. He played the game fair and square. He was a good man. Everyone knew it.
“That’s for them to find out, I suppose,” he said defeatedly.
I could feel my anger rising in me. I wanted to go scream at these SEC agents who were ripping apart the office I had called my home for so many years. I wanted to blast their assumptions about my father out of the water.
“And it was Chandler who brought this on?” I asked, my stomach churning.
I could barely hear my father’s answer as I thought about how I had left Chandler back at my apartment after making love to him. I felt sick to my stomach. He went behind my back while I was gone and brought this mess upon my poor father. He probably called the SEC himself out of spite for losing his job. Instead of finding out who was behind this, he sold my father out.
I quickly pulled my phone from my purse and scrolled down to his name. I was desperate for answers, and he was going to give them to me.
Me:I need you to come down to the office.
Chandler:What? When?
Me:Now.
He was going to tell me face-to-face what the hell was going on. I deserved that much. And I wouldn’t be swayed by my feelings from the way he had weaseled his way back into my life. Had he wanted a front row seat to this mess? I felt like a damn fool.
