Chapter 12 - THE COMPANY THAT DID NOT EXIST
By sunrise, Claire and Chief Financial Officer Mara Chen were inside the company’s audit room.
Aster Vale Holdings did not appear in any official Rowan Meridian database. It had no employees, no public office and no products.
Yet it had received millions from the company.
“The approvals are perfect,” Mara said. “Your identification number, your digital certificate and your authorization code.”
“But not my approval.”
Mara enlarged one of the documents.
The signature looked almost identical to Claire’s. The final letter curved slightly upward, just as Claire’s did when she signed quickly.
Someone had studied her for years.
The transfers began during Claire’s marriage to Damian. At first, they were small enough to disappear inside construction budgets and consulting fees. After Damian’s conviction, the payments became larger.
The latest transfer had been authorized by someone using an executive terminal on the twenty-seventh floor.
Only five people had access to that floor.
Claire called them into an emergency meeting.
Four arrived immediately.
The fifth, Deputy Chairman Arthur Vale, sent a message saying he was ill.
Claire had known Arthur since childhood. He had worked with her father and later supported Claire during the fight to regain the company.
His loyalty had seemed unquestionable.
Mara placed the silver key beside the financial documents.
“There’s something else,” she said.
The key carried an engraved number: 909.
Claire recognized it.
Pier Nine had been one of her father’s oldest shipping properties. Warehouse 909 had supposedly been demolished twelve years earlier.
But according to city records, the building still existed.
Claire stood and reached for her coat.
As she moved toward the door, Mara’s computer sounded an alert.
Someone had remotely deleted Arthur Vale’s executive account.
May you like
Thirty seconds later, another message appeared.
Warehouse 909 was on fire.
