Read Layers: Book One for Free Online Page A

report I’d allegedly made an inquiry about transferring funds to Belize. Then he personally made a trip to my office. Will has never come to my office, which in itself wouldn’t be a big deal, but he was angry and nervous and adamant about me discontinuing any further inquiries.”
    “He said it was his responsibility and his alone. I though his behavior was odd because wouldn’t you be grateful that someone caught something you missed and they came to you first with this information? He was anything grateful. He was pissed.”
    “We didn’t find any report or information about this on your hard drive.”
    “Really ? And this surprises you? The report was there when I left for my vacation. The whole thing seemed off to me so I’d made a note to follow up when I returned from vacation but…”
    “But, you never got a chance.”
    “No, I never got a chance, but it’s here.” I tap my noggin and lift a brow. If it’s a number, I’ll remember it even If I don’t want to. Some people call this a gift—I call it a curse.
    “Yes, of course it is.” He smiles.
    “Will would have already covered his tracks and erased or altered the numbers but it might still give you some insight on what to look for.”

    He gets up and sits behind his desk. “Alexia I’m having a hard time believing Will is behind any of this. He’s been with the company for twenty years. He’s a family friend and a fraternity brother of my father’s. I just…”
    “Yeah I get it, you’re conflicted, but he has motive, access and is more than capable of pulling it off.”
    “It still seems like overkill to me. Embezzlement?”
    “Jaxson, if my suspicions about the outside audits are correct, you’re looking at more than twenty-million in losses. I only looked at a few audits out of hundreds. If Will has been overseeing outside audits since the beginning, then you could be looking at hundreds of millions in losses. Twenty-million doesn’t seem like a large amount in comparison.”
    “I don’t know Alexia.”

    I walk over to his desk and pull up a chair. I need him to see that I get it.
    “Jaxson, if anyone has felt the sting of betrayal it’s me. It burns right through your gut then stabs your heart. But I know in my gut he set me up. You said it seemed extreme and it does. Why didn’t he just get me fired somehow? I probably never would have tied him to it. But the entire company knows how you feel about me, and in lurid detail.”
    He gives me The Brow and I look away for a few seconds.
    “Will knew he couldn’t just get me fired, you wouldn’t have allowed it.
    He needed to create a situation where you wouldn’t have all the say or the control. So he set me up. Now all I have to do is prove it.”

 
HOME NOT SO SWEET HOME
     
    Three days later I’m showing my trashed loft to my friend, Jules.
    We stumble our way through the entry hall and enter the main living area.
    Jules gasps. “Holly hell! It looks like a tornado came barreling through, or a bomb exploded.”
    I wave of emotions breaks over me, and then settles in my gut. I have to bite down hard on my lip to keep the queasiness at bay.
    Jules puts a hand on my shoulder. “Are you going to be sick?”
    I release my lip and slowly exhale. “I was earlier when I came through with the insurance adjuster. The damage is overwhelming but it’s the sense of being violated that makes me nauseous.”
    “How long were you gone last night?”
    My head is pounding, and as I rub my temples seeking relief I go over my night out with my friend, Marco and his husband Henry. “Four hours, tops. I met Marco and Henry at the restaurant, we had dinner then we met up with some of their friends for a nightcap.”
    My loft is about forty five hundred square feet and there isn’t more than a couple of hundred feet that hasn’t been damaged. The kitchen, dining and living areas share the main space. There are two bedroom suites that are divided from the main area by a brick