Chương 10
Garnet’s thumb hovered over the call button.
I finally understood what the morning had become.
Not a marital argument.
Not a ruined wedding.
Not even theft between spouses.
If Amber had issued false invoices and redirected client payments, Garnet’s company had a problem that could not be solved by quietly moving money back on Monday.
He looked at me.
For the first time that morning, he did not ask me to fix anything.
He simply looked frightened.
I said, “Call your controller.”
Amber shook her head.
“Garnet, please.”
He looked at her.
She stepped closer.
“We can put it back first.”
“No.”
“We can borrow it.”
“No.”
“From your father.”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“You’re going to destroy me.”
Garnet’s thumb pressed the screen.
“No, Amber.”
He lifted the phone to his ear.
“You did something, and I’m finally going to stop helping you hide what it costs.”
The call connected on the fourth ring.
“Garnet?”
His controller sounded half asleep.
“Priya, I need you to log into the operating account.”
There was a pause.
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
Amber covered her mouth with one hand.
Garnet turned away from her.
“I need you to check every outgoing transfer and every client payment from the last six weeks.”
Priya was awake now.
“What happened?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
Amber whispered, “Don’t say anything else.”
Garnet closed his eyes.
“Also check whether any client invoices were changed after approval.”
Priya went quiet.
“That’s not a normal Saturday request.”
“I know.”
Another pause.
“I’m opening the laptop.”
Garnet lowered his head.
The rest of us stood there listening to the faint sound of keys through the phone.
Amber backed toward the SUV.
Hazel noticed first.
“Don’t leave.”
Amber looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because running now will make everything worse.”
Amber gave a bitter laugh.
“You’ve all already decided what I am.”
Hazel’s voice stayed soft.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I decided you did something serious.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“It isn’t.”
Amber looked toward Garnet.
He had stopped paying attention to us.
Priya was saying numbers.
He walked toward the porch and sat on the top step.
“What do you mean the Benton payment never hit operating?”
Priya answered too quietly for me to hear.
Garnet rubbed his forehead.
“Check accounts receivable.”
Amber began crying again.
This time she made no effort to hide it.
I felt no satisfaction.
That surprised me.
The night before, humiliation had felt clean.
Balanced.
Now nothing felt balanced.
Hazel went inside and came back with a box of tissues.
She handed it to Amber.
Amber stared at the box.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know.”
Amber took one anyway.
She wiped her face and looked embarrassed by the kindness.
Priya’s voice sharpened through the phone.
Garnet stood.
“What invoice number?”
He listened.
“No, that sequence isn’t ours.”
Amber folded the tissue until it became a narrow white strip.
Garnet said, “Can you screenshot that and send it to me?”
Priya answered.
“Yes, lock my credentials after you send it.”
Amber looked up sharply.
Garnet turned toward her.
“Not because of you.”
She flinched.
“Because if my login was used without me, I need everything reset.”
“That is because of me.”
“Fine.”
He looked exhausted.
“Yes.”
The screenshot arrived.
Garnet opened it.
I watched his face change.
“What?”
He showed me the phone.
The invoice bore his company logo, Benton’s billing address, and an account number I had never seen.
At the bottom, under authorization, was Garnet’s digital signature.
He said, “That isn’t my signature block.”
I looked closer.
“It looks like one.”
“I changed it last year.”
Amber stared at the pavement.
Garnet looked at her.
“You used an old template.”
She said nothing.
Hazel sat on the porch rail.
“Amber.”
Amber’s eyes closed.
“I had files.”
“What files?”
“Old proposals.”
“From where?”
“Your shared drive.”
Garnet laughed weakly.
“You didn’t even need my password for that.”
“No.”
He sat again.
For several seconds, he simply held the phone against his knee.
Then Priya spoke.
“Garnet?”
“I’m here.”
“I found another one.”
His eyes shut.
“How much?”
Priya answered.
He swallowed.
“Twenty-four?”
Amber looked away.
He repeated it.
“Twenty-four thousand?”
Hazel pressed her lips together.
Garnet looked at Amber.
“Who?”
“Marston.”
She whispered it.
Garnet nodded before Priya confirmed.
Like he already knew.
“How many?”
Amber shook her head.
He asked Priya instead.
She told him she could see two altered invoices and one pending receivable instruction that did not match their bank account.
Garnet stood so abruptly that the porch step caught the heel of his shoe.
He stumbled and swore.
I reached for him.
He pulled away, not angrily, just needing space.
“Cancel anything pending.”
Priya said something.
“I don’t care if the client complains.”
He listened.
“No, don’t contact them yet.”
Another pause.
“Yes, I know.”
He walked into the yard.
“I need Daniel.”
That surprised me.
“You want my attorney?”
“I want somebody who understands what I’m looking at.”
“Daniel handles my business work.”
“Good.”
Amber wiped her nose with the tissue.
“Please don’t bring lawyers into this.”
Garnet turned.
“You already brought clients into it.”
Her face folded.
“I was going to put it back.”
He stared at her.
“No.”
She looked confused.
“No what?”
“You weren’t.”
“I was.”
“With what money?”
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came.
“You keep saying gifts.”
He took a step toward her.
“We got twelve thousand dollars in gifts.”
Her eyes dropped.
“You knew that last night.”
“Yes.”
“You knew it wasn’t enough.”
“Yes.”
“So what was the plan?”
“I didn’t have one.”
For the first time, the answer sounded honest.
Garnet looked almost relieved by it.
Then the relief turned into pain.
He sat on the low wall again.
Hazel moved beside him.
This time he let her.
She placed a hand on his back.
Amber watched.
Her expression tightened.
Not anger exactly.
Something closer to being left outside.
“I did it because everything kept getting more expensive.”
May you like
Garnet did not look at her.
“Everything gets more expensive.”
