Chapter 3 - Keep Your Hands Off What Is Mine
The following day, I entered the executive cafeteria at twelve thirty.
Every department leader was present. Dominic was meeting two board members upstairs and would arrive later.
Valerie sat at the central table surrounded by managers who laughed nervously at everything she said.
Dominic’s black mug stood beside her hand.
My name was still engraved beneath the base.
I walked toward the table.
Valerie looked up.
“Junior staff eat in the downstairs cafeteria.”
“I was told this luncheon included all executive-floor employees.”
“Then you were told incorrectly.”
Several people lowered their eyes.
I placed my phone in my pocket and activated the recorder.
“I’ll leave after I get some coffee.”
I picked up the mug.
Valerie’s chair scraped backward.
“Put that down.”
I looked at her sapphire ring.
“Why? Does it belong to you?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Everything in Dominic’s office belongs to me.”
“Does his wife know that?”
The managers around us became perfectly still.
Valerie smiled with open contempt.
“His wife knows whatever he decides to tell her.”
I took one calm sip.
The coffee had gone cold.
Valerie knocked the lunch tray from my other hand. A bowl struck the floor and shattered.
“You insignificant little thief.”
She seized the mug.
When I refused to release it, she slapped me.
The sound carried across the room.
Then she shouted the words that ended her career.
“That is my husband’s cup. Keep your hands off what’s mine.”
Dominic entered at precisely the wrong moment.
Or, from my perspective, the perfect one.
When I revealed my identity, employees began whispering. Several reached for their phones, but Chloe entered and asked everyone to remain as witnesses.
Dominic attempted to recover quickly.
“This woman is emotionally unstable,” he announced. “My wife has been suffering from extreme jealousy.”
I opened the black folder.
“Would extreme jealousy create these bank transfers?”
I placed three documents on the table.
“Would it forge my signature?”
Another document followed.
“Would it record you promising board positions in exchange for votes?”
I played a short audio clip.
Dominic’s voice filled the cafeteria.
Once Northstar enters, Audrey becomes irrelevant.
Valerie stepped backward.
“He told me she approved everything.”
I looked at her.
“The recording from six minutes ago suggests you believed you were replacing me.”
“She manipulated me,” Valerie told Dominic. “You said she was only an assistant.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“Stop talking.”
That order turned Valerie’s fear into rage.
“You promised I would become chief operating officer.”
“Valerie.”
“You said the money was already hidden.”
The attorneys exchanged glances.
Detective Reed opened a notebook.
Dominic moved toward Valerie, but security blocked him.
I played another recording.
This one captured Valerie explaining how she had instructed an accountant to separate suspicious transactions into amounts small enough to avoid internal review.
The accountant had secretly provided us with the complete records.
Dominic looked around the cafeteria.
The employees who had once feared him now watched with disgust.
“You have no authority to remove me,” he said to me. “The board appointed me.”
“The board can dismiss you.”
“They won’t.”
The elevator chimed.
Seven board members stepped onto the floor.
May you like
My father’s oldest friend, Jonathan Hale, led them into the cafeteria.
“We already have,” he said.
