Chapter 3 - THE MAN INSIDE ROMANO GLOBALVictor arrived at headquarters before sunrise.
Martin Keller was already there.
That alone bothered him.
Martin usually arrived at eight-thirty precisely, drank one espresso, reviewed overnight markets, and complained whenever Victor scheduled meetings before nine.
Today he was at his desk at 6:12.
Victor said nothing.
He walked past.
Rebecca joined him in the executive conference room.
“We traced Elena’s compliance email.”
“And?”
“It entered our server.”
Victor stared at her.
“Then disappeared.”
“Not exactly.”
She rotated her laptop.
“It was reassigned from general compliance to executive review.”
“By whom?”
Rebecca paused.
“Martin.”
Victor leaned back slowly.
There it was.
Not proof of conspiracy.
But enough to make him careful.
“Does he know we know?”
“No.”
“Keep it that way.”
At nine, David Sterling arrived.
He wore a navy suit and the relaxed smile of a man accustomed to entering rooms where everyone wanted something from him.
Victor kept him waiting twenty-three minutes.
When he finally entered, Sterling smiled.
“Always theatrical.”
Victor remained seated.
“Elena Carter.”
Sterling sighed.
“We’re really doing this?”
Rebecca placed the fraudulent collection order on the table.
Sterling glanced at it.
“Never seen it.”
“Your subsidiary issued it.”
“Contractor error.”
Victor slid forward a payroll sheet.
Sterling’s smile weakened.
“Recognize this?”
“No.”
“Eleven million in payroll to nonexistent employees.”
“Sounds like nonsense.”
“Then you won’t object to an audit.”
Sterling laughed.
“Of a private company?”
“Of every record connected to the Riverside bid.”
Sterling’s jaw tightened.
“That’s proprietary.”
“So is my money.”
Victor leaned forward.
“Withdraw your bid.”
Sterling stopped pretending.
“Excuse me?”
“Withdraw voluntarily.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I publicly suspend negotiations pending a fraud investigation.”
Sterling’s eyes became cold.
“You’d damage both companies.”
“I can afford damage.”
Victor lowered his voice.
“Can you?”
The meeting ended eleven minutes later.
Sterling walked out without shaking hands.
Martin appeared in Victor’s doorway twenty minutes afterward.
“I heard Sterling left angry.”
“News travels quickly.”
Martin shrugged.
“Assistants talk.”
Victor studied him.
Martin was fifty-eight, silver-haired, confident, practically family.
He had attended Victor’s father’s funeral.
He had once carried Victor’s drunken younger brother out of a nightclub to avoid scandal.
Trust accumulated quietly over decades.
Perhaps that was why betrayal was so expensive.
“Do you remember an employee complaint from Elena Carter?” Victor asked casually.
Martin blinked.
“Who?”
“Sterling payroll employee.”
“No.”
Victor nodded.
“Rebecca says she emailed compliance.”
Martin sighed.
“You know how many ridiculous accusations we receive during major bids.”
“So you remember?”
“I remember Sterling had a disgruntled employee.”
That contradiction hung between them.
Martin noticed it too late.
Victor smiled.
“Right.”
That afternoon, Victor returned to the hospital.
Lucy was drawing.
She had transformed her rusty bicycle into something spectacular on paper—pink frame, golden wheels, streamers, a basket overflowing with flowers.
Victor pointed.
“Upgrade?”
She nodded seriously.
“It needs a bell.”
“Critical equipment.”
Elena smiled for the first time.
Color had returned slightly to her face after fluids and medication.
“You didn't have to come back.”
“I said we'd talk.”
He sat beside the bed.
“I need to know everything about Sterling.”
Elena’s smile disappeared.
She began with her husband, Thomas.
Thomas Carter had been a construction estimator for one of Sterling Development’s subcontractors.
Three years earlier, he had noticed materials being invoiced twice.
Steel beams.
Concrete.
Electrical equipment.
He confronted his supervisor.
Nothing happened.
Then his truck crashed on an icy interstate.
Police ruled it accidental.
Elena believed that too.
Until six months later.
“When I found the payroll accounts, I found Thomas’s employee ID connected to payments made after he died.”
Victor frowned.
“Sterling kept paying a dead employee?”
“Not paying him. Using his identity.”
“How much?”
“Almost $700,000.”
Rebecca stopped writing.
Elena continued.
“That’s when I started copying everything.”
“Did Sterling know your husband had discovered the invoices?”
“I think so.”
“You think his death wasn't accidental?”
“I don't know.”
Lucy stopped drawing.
Elena immediately changed the subject.
Victor noticed.
So did Rebecca.
Later, in the corridor, Rebecca said, “If there’s a connection to Thomas Carter’s death, this goes beyond financial crimes.”
Victor nodded.
“We need outside investigators.”
“Police?”
“Eventually.”
“Why not now?”
“Because if Martin Keller is compromised, we don't know who else is.”
Rebecca folded her arms.
“You think Sterling has people everywhere.”
“I think eleven million dollars buys friendships.”
His phone buzzed.
A message from security.
Incident at Carter residence.
Victor called immediately.
“What happened?”
“Break-in.”
“What was taken?”
“House was searched. Bedroom floorboards opened.”
Victor’s eyes changed.
“The files.”
“They weren’t there.”
Because Victor had them.
“Cameras?”
“Neighbor across the street caught a vehicle.”
“Plate?”
“Partial.”
Victor turned toward Elena’s hospital room.
Someone had searched the house while she was hospitalized.
That meant Sterling knew she still had evidence.
And someone knew exactly where she had hidden it.
“Who besides Elena knew about the floorboard?” Rebecca asked.
Victor thought.
Lucy.
Elena.
Victor.
Rebecca.
The security team.
Unless someone had been watching.
Then Rebecca received another message.
She read it twice.
“What?”
She showed Victor.
A Romano Global employee badge had been found near the back door of Elena’s house.
Victor looked at the name.
MARTIN KELLER.
Too obvious.
Far too obvious.
“Someone wants us to find this,” Victor said.
Rebecca agreed.
Before they could discuss it further, Lucy appeared at the hospital-room door.
“Mr. Victor?”
He turned.
She was clutching something.
A small brown envelope.
“This was under Mommy’s pillow.”
Elena heard her and froze.
“Lucy, give me that.”
The fear in her voice immediately changed the room.
Victor looked at Elena.
“What is it?”
She stared at the envelope for a long moment.
Then slowly closed her eyes.
“I promised Thomas I would never open it unless something happened to me.”
Lucy handed it over.
Written across the front were four words.
IF STERLING COMES FOR US.
Victor opened the envelope.
Inside was a brass storage key.
And a note written by Thomas Carter three days before he died.
Victor read the first sentence.
Then he looked at Elena.
“What?”
she whispered.
Victor handed her the note.
May you like
Thomas had written:
Elena, if you're reading this, the accident they're planning for me has already happened.
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