The Project

“After Miss Dawson discovered that Hillshire Hotels was on the verge of bankruptcy, I asked her to have a closer look at the project. The deal never should have got as far as it did, so I wanted answers. Miss Dawson was able to discover that the funds that had been allocated for the project were being embezzled.”

“The funds were transferred to several Carta Hotels properties into dormant accounts. Within a couple of days, each hotel was contacted and made aware of a transferring mistake and were asked to transfer the money back into what appeared to be a Carta Hotels’ bank account. The transfers happened twice a month like clockwork. The transfers immediately stopped when the Hillshire Hotels project was terminated.”

“I ordered an audit under the guise of preparing for the upcoming review of my contract. Miss Dawson accompanied me and together, we went through every audit, interviewed staff and we were able to uncover the extent of the embezzlement. We also discovered the responsible party, James Jamerson,” Devyn explained, making Harold frown in confusion.

“I’ve never heard of this man.”

“No one has,” Devyn said, watching as Lucas clenched his jaw tightly shut. “He has been very busy working behind the scenes, arranging transfers, intercepting audits, and doing everything that he could to keep us distracted.”

“I believe Miss Dawson did a wonderful job of that,” Lucas bit out evenly.

“What’s he talking about?” came the question that had Devyn conceding a point to the asshole that had overplayed his hand.

“He’s been having an affair with Miss Dawson, which is the real reason why he decided to spend the last month visiting Carta Hotels’ properties. It’s also the reason why we’re here. She’s been helping him clean up his mess,” Lucas said with a look that told him that he knew damn well that Devyn didn’t have any proof that would tie this mess to him.

That was true, but…

It wasn’t going to stop him from making sure that the little bastard paid for what he did to Andi.

“Mr. Anderson created a VP position for James Jamerson, authorized transfers, opened bank accounts, and interfered with the operations of this company,” Devyn said before adding, “And then he threatened Miss Dawson’s safety in order to force my cooperation.”

“There’s only one problem with that story, I don’t have the authorization to do any of that,” Lucas said, folding his arms over his chest as he leveled a smug look as he added, “You do.”

“So does she,” Andi said absently, not bothering to look up from whatever she was doing to point a damning finger across the room at the last person that Devyn would have suspected.

“I have no idea what she’s talking about,” Janet said, looking just as stunned as the rest of them.

“She authorized everything from Jamerson’s position to the transfers, opened accounts, closed them, and made sure that Lucas had access to everything that he needed,” Andi explained as she gestured to the monitor.

“Holy shit…”

“She was also instrumental in the attack on Mr. MacGregor,” Andi explained as the screen showed text messages with her phone number, letting someone know Devyn’s every move, including the fact that she was following him to his office.

“We were having a difficult time putting the pieces together because of the missing files, but thankfully, Mr. Anderson was kind enough to create a fake hotel for every transfer. He set up accounts for them under Carta Hotels’ name and managed to bury them in projects that were long forgotten,” Andi said as a financial form for Cresmford Hotel, a hotel that he’d never heard about before, appeared on the screen next to one for Charlton Hotel, showing the transfer from Charlton to Cremsford.

“That’s not my signature at the bottom,” Lucas pointed out, gesturing to Devyn’s signature at the bottom.

“True, but this is,” Andi said as another form appeared on the screen, one granting him access to the account along with the opening date of the account four months before Devyn had been hired.

“They started testing transfers before Mr. MacGregor was hired. I also found the emails and letters from Hillshire Hotels to the fake account that Mr. Anderson set up, informing him of the hotel’s dire situation. They suggested that Carta buy the buildings instead of stock, but Lucas refused, stating that Carta was interested in a lucrative partnership with Hillshire Hotels. That’s what the stock purchase took two years to complete. Mr. Anderson assured them that Mr. MacGregor was well aware of the situation and had a plan to turn it all around. There was no fraud on Hillshire Hotels’ behalf, which is why I’m assuming they’re refusing to talk to Carta Hotels at the moment,” Andi explained while Devyn stood there, taking it all in and…

“You were never going to let that deal go through, were you?” Devyn said, nodding slowly when a muscle in Lucas’s jaw twitched. “You set up a project that you never planned to see through so that you could embezzle twenty-five million dollars and what? What was the plan, Lucas?”

“Your job,” Andi supplied, not bothering to look up at him as she grabbed a file off the stack next to her and handed it to him. “He kept meticulous records.”

“My job,” Devyn murmured, nodding as he opened the file and glanced down at the glowing recommendation to the board from the woman pushing her chair back only to find herself surrounded by several police officers.

“You little shit!” Harold snapped, getting to his feet. “I put my ass on the line for you and gave you a job to keep you out of trouble and this is how you repay me?”

“If it helps, they transferred all the money into accounts for those dummy hotels and since they forged Mr. MacGregor’s signature on the accounts, I’m pretty sure that he can authorize it all back,” Andi said, taking him by surprise.

“It’s all there?” Devyn asked, glancing back at Andi to find her nodding.

“They couldn’t risk tying themselves to the money, so they put it in a safe place where it collected a decent amount of interest, but it’s all there,” Andi said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal.

“Why the hell weren’t we informed about this from the start?” Andrew demanded, looking like he was going to be sick as Lucas headed for the door.

“I’ll explain in a minute,” Devyn said, moving to go after Lucas.

“Take your sister home,” Devyn told Drew as he grabbed hold of Lucas and slammed him against the wall.

“Wait! I’m being helpful!” Andi yelled as Drew grabbed hold of her and carried her to the door.

As soon as she was gone, Devyn pulled back his fist and-

Was taken by surprise when Harold beat him to it. He watched as Lucas slammed back against the wall, looking just as stunned as blood began pouring out of his nose. Before he could reach up and cup his nose, the police were there, grabbing him.

“Looks like we need to have a talk,” Harold said, rubbing the back of his hand as Devyn found himself looking into the hallway just in time to see Drew carry Andi onto the elevator.

“Yes, we do,” Devyn said, swallowing hard as he forced himself to stand there and let her go.