Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Anna
“The company is none of your concern anymore. In fact, I’m glad you’re here. I have papers for you to sign. I’m buying back your shares of the company. Don’t even try to fight me on it because in the contract, I made sure to include a buy-back clause.”
“Who is this guy?” Matthew harshly asked as he pointed to Wes.
“This is Mr. Westin Carter. I picked him up in Paris while I was on our honeymoon.” I smirked.
“Why you?—”
My father put his hand up.
“Stop, Matthew.”
“Dad, I need to talk to you in private.”
“I have nothing to say to you, Anna.”
I sighed. “Okay, then. I guess we’ll just hash it out right here. There’s an employee in the company who is embezzling money.”
“That’s ridiculous. Nobody that works for me would ever do that. And how do you know this?”
“Yeah, Anna?” Matthew nervously chimed in. “How do you know this?”
“I was tipped off by one of your concerned employees, Dad.”
“Who?” Matthew angrily shouted.
“Why are you getting so worked up, Matthew?”
“What is going on in here?” Nina asked as she walked into the room. “What is she doing here?”
“Hello, Nina.” I grinned.
“That’s your stepmother?” Wes asked.
“Shut up.” I slapped his chest.
“She’s here on business, Nina. Go see if dinner is ready.”
“What business could she have? She doesn’t work for the company anymore. Clarissa will let us know when dinner is ready.”
“Anyway!” I loudly voiced. “Since Matthew won’t fess up about embezzling money from the family company, I guess I’ll just have to show you, Dad.”
“What? You think I’m the one?” Matthew nervously laughed.
“Anna, you’ve gone too far this time,” my father shouted. “First, you broke this man’s heart and humiliated him in front of our family and friends, and now you stand there and accuse him of stealing from me?”
“Damn right, I do.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the file. “Here are all the bogus invoices he created and signed off on for services and supplies that the company never received. These are the account numbers to which the company deposited the funds. The account numbers were traced to a few offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands, with over ten million dollars in total. Ten million dollars of your money, Dad.”
He hastily grabbed the file from me and thumbed through the invoices.
“I’ve never even heard of these vendors.” He looked at Matthew. “Why wouldn’t you have run these by me first?”
“I—I didn’t want to bother you. They’re legit companies. I checked into them myself,” he nervously spoke. “I would never steal from you. I can’t believe you’re standing here believing what she’s saying. Especially after what she did to the both of us.”
I stood there and rolled my eyes.
“Maybe you should have him check his accounts,” Wes leaned over and whispered in my ear.
“Don’t worry, Dad. I had the money transferred out of those accounts and placed back into the company account.”
“What?!” Matthew shouted as he pulled out his phone and started typing away.
“Matthew?” My father cocked his head at him and then grabbed his phone from his hand. “What the hell?”
“What is it, Dad? Did someone get caught with their hand in the cookie jar?” I smiled.
“YOU BITCH!” Matthew came at me, and Wes stepped in front of me.
“I suggest you back the fuck up now,” Wes sternly spoke.
Matthew stopped, then turned, and looked at Nina, who was slowly leaving the living room.
“Oh no, you don’t, Nina. If I’m going down, you’re going down with me. This was all your idea!” he shouted.
“Oh shit.” I laughed. “I didn’t see that one coming.”
“Neither did I,” Wes spoke.
Suddenly, there were police cars with their sirens and flashing lights in the driveway. Clarissa opened the door, and two police officers stepped inside and handcuffed Matthew.
“Take her too. She was a part of this,” my father spoke to the officers. “How could you, Nina? How could you do this to me after everything I’ve given you?”
She just stared at him as the officers hauled her and Matthew away. My father stumbled into the wing-backed chair and placed his face in his hands. I wished I could say that I felt sorry for him, but I didn’t. This was his punishment for the way he treated me since the day I was born.
“How did you know, Anna?”
“I didn’t know about Nina, but Becca paid me a visit in New York. She and Frank suspected something was up.”
“Then why didn’t they come to me? Why the hell would they go to you?”
“Because they knew you would never believe them. Plus, when Becca confronted Matthew, he gave her some spiel about how the two of you talked and wanted to take the company in a new direction. And then he threatened to fire her. Becca had no choice but to come to me.”
“How on earth did you find out about those accounts?” he asked.
“I’m not at liberty to say. But I knew I had to put a stop to it.”
“Thank you, Anna.”
That was the first time I’d ever heard those words escape my father’s lips.
“Don’t thank me. I didn’t do it for you. He was stealing from me too. My work here is done. Come on, Wes, let’s go.”
“Anna, wait,” my father said. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what? Never being a father to me? Never loving me? Never trusting in me enough to make the right decisions for myself? Sorry that I was ever born?”
“Stop it!”
“No, Dad. I won’t stop it because all of it is true. You chose to love and trust a man more than your own daughter, and that is something I can never forgive you for,” I spoke as tears filled my eyes.
“Anna, don’t do this.”
“It’s too late, Dad. This can’t be undone. There’s too much damage. Send the papers to Franco’s apartment in New York. That’s where I’m staying. I’ll sign over my shares to the company.”
“No!” He stood up. “You are my daughter, and part of that company belongs to you.”
“I was never your daughter, Dad.” I wiped my eyes and walked out.