Chapter 6: The Woman Who Kept the Books
Naomi spread the papers across her conference table.
Every payment from Desert Crown was marked with initials, dates, and account numbers.
“Who is R.D.?” Sienna asked.
Tessa shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Naomi tapped a recurring payment.
“Five thousand dollars every month for a year.
Whoever R.D.
is, they were being kept loyal.”
Tessa’s eyes filled.
“I should have questioned the car.”
“You believed your family,” Sienna said.
“So did you.”
Sienna looked at her, and neither woman needed to soften the truth.
Tessa pushed one paper forward.
“There’s also a name written on the back.
Marisol Vega.”
Naomi called the number beside it.
A woman answered but fell silent when Desert Crown was mentioned.
“I don’t work for them anymore,” Marisol said.
“We believe Christian and Gwen used forged documents,” Naomi replied.
“Did you keep the company accounts?”
“I kept the honest set.”
Naomi looked at the papers.
“And the second set?”
“Gwen kept that one.”
“Will you meet us?”
Marisol arrived forty minutes later carrying a worn laptop.
She did not sit until Naomi locked the office door.
“Christian hired me to record rent from three properties,” she said.
“But there were no tenants.”
Sienna placed the condo address in front of her.
“What was this property used for?”
“Gwen lived there whenever she told you she was visiting friends.
She held parties and introduced herself as the owner.”
“Where did the loan money go?”
Marisol opened the laptop.
“Clothes, trips, gambling accounts, and payments to a man named Reid Dalton.”
Naomi’s pen stopped.
“R.D.”
“He works in your company’s finance department,” Marisol told Sienna.
“Christian said Reid could see when your bonuses arrived and when large payments were scheduled.”
Sienna remembered the unexpected hold on a client payment—the cash-flow problem that had delayed Gwen’s allowance.
“Reid created the delay.”
Marisol nodded.
“Christian needed you frightened enough to sign whatever he placed in front of you.”
“He miscalculated,” Tessa said.
“She refused.”
Marisol turned the laptop around.
An audio file sat inside a folder labeled INSURANCE.
“Why did you save this?” Sienna asked.
“Because Gwen blamed me when the bank questioned a transfer.
I started recording meetings.”
She pressed play.
Christian’s voice filled the room.
“Once Reid gets her work password, we can make the missing project money look like Sienna moved it.”
Gwen answered, “And if she investigates?”
“She’ll be too busy defending her career.”
Sienna gripped the edge of the table.
Naomi copied the file onto three drives.
“Marisol, will you testify?”
“If you protect my records and my name.”
“We will.”
Sienna’s work phone rang.
Her supervisor, Callum Brooks, spoke without greeting.
“Security found confidential files sent from your account to Desert Crown.”
“Callum, Christian accessed my laptop.”
“I need you here immediately.”
“I have a recording explaining what they planned.”
“Bring it.
But understand this—the board has already suspended you.”
Sienna’s company access disappeared before the call ended.
Tessa stood beside her.
“We’ll prove it.”
A hard knock shook the office door.
“Ms.
Price,” a man called.
“Court-authorized seizure.
Open the door.”
Naomi looked through the glass and stiffened.
Two officers stood outside with Christian’s attorney.
May you like
The attorney held up a document.
“We’re here for every Desert Crown record in your possession.”
