Chapter 691
Chapter 691:
I took the bag. The warmth of the food seeped into my cold hands.
“Thanks, Liam,” I said.
“Eat,” he commanded gently.
Behind him, on the bed, Julian’s hand moved an inch, giving a thumbs-up before falling back limp.
The numbers on the spreadsheet were blurring together.
I sat in my office at Oracle Holdings, the morning sun cutting through the floor-to-ceiling windows. It should have been a triumphant morning. The stock was up, the media was praising my resilience, and Eleanor Vance was walking into a trap.
But the ledger in front of me told a different story.
Felix, my chief financial analyst, stood on the other side of the desk. He was twisting his tie around his finger, a nervous habit he developed whenever the news was bad.
“It doesn’t make sense, Boss,” Felix said. “We own three nightclubs and the largest arcade in Haven City, the Neon Abyss. Foot traffic is up twenty percent this quarter. But revenue? It’s down forty percent p>
I frowned, tapping my pen against the mahogany. “Is someone skimming off the top? A manager p>
“That’s what I thought,” Felix said. “But the inventory matches the sales. The liquor, the tokens, it all balances. It’s the cash. The cash that goes into the machines and the cover charges. It’s just… evaporating before it hits the books p>
“Evaporating,” I murmured.
I remembered Julian’s words. Eleanor’s transfer is being washed through the underground.
“It’s not evaporating, Felix,” I said, standing up. I walked over to the large map of the city on the wall and circled the Haven City district with a red marker. “It’s being diverted. Someone has tapped into our cash flow at the source p>
“I can send an audit team,” Felix suggested.
R𝖾a𝗱 𝘧𝗋o𝘮 𝘺𝗼𝘶𝘳 𝗉h𝗼𝗇𝗲 𝗼𝗇 𝘣𝖾.𝘤𝗈𝗺
“No,” I said. “An audit team wears suits and carries clipboards. The moment they walk in, the rats will hide. I need to go down there myself p>
The office door swung open without a knock.
Alistair Thorne walked in. He filled the doorway, his presence sucking the air out of the room. He was wearing a charcoal suit that cost more than Felix’s car, but he wore it with the casual menace of a man who was used to getting blood on his cuffs.
“Absolutely not,” Alistair said. His voice was a low rumble.
I raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me p>
“Haven City is unstable right now,” Alistair said, walking over to the desk. He didn’t look at Felix, who promptly gathered his papers and scurried out of the room. “Since we handed Lucian over to the authorities, his remaining lieutenants have retreated to Haven City. It’s a war zone of power struggles. You can’t just walk in p>
“How do you know I was planning to go to Haven City?” I asked, crossing my arms.
Alistair didn’t blink. “I have a backdoor in your security system. For your protection p>
“That is a gross violation of privacy,” I said, though I wasn’t actually surprised. “And I’m docking your consulting fee p>
“Dock whatever you want,” Alistair said, leaning against the edge of my desk. “But you aren’t going down there alone. Not with the rumors I’m hearing p>