Chapter 10: Midnight in the Thirty-Eighth Floor
Julian opened the report at twelve thirty-eight in the morning.
He read it the way he read everything — quickly, without expression, going back twice over the numbers that didn't make sense until they did.
Marcus sat across from him.
Abby sat beside Marcus.
Neither of them spoke.
Julian reached the final line.
He set the tablet face-down on the desk.
"One point four million," he said.
"Across six years," Marcus said.
"Twenty-two active contracts."
"And the vendors."
"Two of them trace directly to Carter's brother-in-law.
The others we're still verifying."
Julian stood up.
He walked to the window.
The city was quieter at this hour but never silent — lights moving far below, the faint pulse of traffic on the avenue.
"I gave him an NDA," Julian said.
"I gave him a settlement."
"Yes," Marcus said.
"I let him walk."
"Yes."
Julian turned from the window.
His voice was controlled but something underneath it was not.
"I was so focused on keeping it quiet that I never looked at whether it was still happening."
"The contracts renewed automatically," Abby said.
"There was no trigger for review."
Julian looked at her.
"You found this in four days."
"I found it because I didn't know I wasn't supposed to look," she said.
"I just looked at the numbers."
He was quiet for a moment.
"Carter will find out we know," Julian said.
"He still has a contact in the building."
"I know," Abby said.
"Marcus and I kept this off email."
Julian looked at Marcus.
"Who is the contact?"
Marcus hesitated.
"I have a suspicion.
I'd rather confirm before I name someone."
"How long to confirm?"
"Tomorrow morning.
I can check the access logs for the vendor files."
Julian nodded.
He came back to the desk and sat down.
He looked at the tablet without turning it over.
"Carter is going to say the NDA covers all of this," Julian said.
"His lawyers will argue the settlement was full resolution."
"The NDA covers the original irregularities he disclosed," Abby said.
"It doesn't cover fraud he continued after signing it.
And it doesn't cover the shell companies, because those weren't disclosed."
Julian looked at her.
"How do you know that?"
"I read the NDA," she said.
"Marcus sent it to me at eleven."
Julian looked at Marcus.
Marcus looked at the wall.
"She asked for it," Marcus said simply.
Julian turned back to Abby.
"You read a six-page NDA in forty minutes and found the gap."
"I read slowly," Abby said.
"It took me thirty-five."
Something moved across Julian's face.
Not quite a smile.
Something more like recognition.
"I need a lawyer tonight," Julian said.
"I already texted Grace Holloway," Marcus said.
"She's available at seven a.m."
"Good." Julian stood again.
He looked at Abby.
"You should go home.
It's almost one in the morning."
"I know," she said.
She stood and picked up her bag.
"Abby." Julian's voice stopped her at the door.
She turned.
"Carter is going to find out," he said.
"And when he does — he's not going to be quiet about it.
He's going to come after the person who started pulling the thread."
Abby looked at him steadily.
"I know."
"That doesn't concern you?"
She thought about the kitchen table.
The number at the bottom of the page.
Victor.
Rosa.
The hundred-dollar bill.
"It concerns me," she said.
"But so does letting him keep taking."
Julian held her gaze for a moment.
"Go home," he said.
"Get some sleep."
She nodded and walked out.
In the elevator, she exhaled for what felt like the first time in three hours.
Her phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number.
*You should have taken the money when you had the chance.*
The elevator doors opened to the lobby.
May you like
Abby stared at the message.
Carter Blaine already knew.
