Chapter Seventeen
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” she asked. Having arrived at the office, Ruyn braced himself for the confrontation with Korsan.
“I’m sure. I appreciate the offer of support, but I need to do this alone. I’m basically going to accuse him of malfeasance. He’s not going to like it—and he’d like it even less with an audience.”
“I understand. While you’re gone, I’ll take another look at the hologram we got from the superintendent and get the footage from the street cams.”
“Good idea,” he said. “Well, wish me luck.”
“Good luck.” She kissed him.
He’d called ahead to ensure his brother would be free. When he got to his office, Korsan’s assistant waved him through.
His brother greeted him with a hearty, sincere smile. “Have a good time?”
He’d enjoyed the time alone with Michaela, and they’d taken their relationship to a whole new level. All of that was wonderful. But she’d gotten sick, and he left with disturbing suspicions about his brother. “Fine,” he said.
“Just fine? Where did you go?”
“We stayed at the Starlight on Elyxis 4.” He watched his brother’s face for a reaction.
“Swanky.” Korsan whistled, either forgetting he’d recently talked Ruyn out of going there—or feigning forgetfulness. “It’s primo. High-end everything.”
“It should be considering what was spent on renovations,” he replied. “We’d requested one of the newly renovated Alpha Centauri bungalows.”
Still no reaction.
“Have a look!” He presented his tech tab with a holo-vid of the staff quarters.
Korsan bent his head over the device. “Was this taken before the work was done?”
“No, this is after a half-billion credits were spent to renovate employee housing to supposedly accommodate guests. There are no guests staying there. Only employees.”
“I don’t understand.”
“There’s more.” He called up a hologram of the pool taken a year ago by hotel staff. “This is before.” He swiped to his hologram of the cabanas and new pool tiles. “And this is after. This is what you get for a half-mil.”
His brother frowned. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying the invoices we receive from Starlight don’t match the actual work. There have been renovations, but not enough to account for what we’re paying for.”
Korsan sank into his chair as if his legs might give out. “That can’t be. Are you sure?” He brushed his hand over his mouth like he felt ill. “I can’t believe someone at Starlight would doctor invoices. I know the general manager personally. He always struck me as honest and sharp.”
Ruyn took a breath. “I don’t think it’s the GM. I think the malfeasance goes higher up the chain than that.”
“Who?” He blinked uncomprehendingly, then his jaw dropped. “You’re not insinuating—you don’t mean me? You think I’m involved? How could you think such a thing?” His ears turned bright green, and he leaped to his feet.
“Perhaps I failed in my due diligence. I trusted the wrong people, but I can’t believe you would accuse me of money laundering? After all I’ve—”
After all I’ve done for you, he’d been about to say.
“This is outrageous. I’m stunned you would accuse me.” Pinching his lips tight, he shook his head.
Certainty faltered. What if I’m wrong? Korsan had been there for him every single day.
When he had hit rock bottom after the attack, his brother had picked him up and given him a reason to go on.
He’d hired a bodyguard for him. After their parents died, he’d taken him under his wing. He’d always been kind and generous.
Maybe he’s just a shit businessman. A few previously unknown facts had come to light recently. His brother had had other business ventures fail. He’d filed for bankruptcy once. Maybe he wasn’t crooked, just incompetent.
But Ruyn couldn’t let this drop. One way or another—he had to glean the truth. His gut and heart had to be convinced. Besides, a bell couldn’t be unrung; the accusation couldn’t be retracted like he’d never uttered it.
“The problem goes beyond Starlight. The other subsidiaries are incurring excessive expenses, too.”
“Like who?”
“Guess how much GAL Friday bills for Michaela’s services?”
He threw up his hands. “I don’t know what each and every employee and or temp hire makes.” He gestured impatiently. “But I suppose you do, so why don’t you tell me.”
“Forty thousand credits.”
“For a six-month term? That’s not unreasonable at all. Sounds like a bargain.”
“Not the whole period—per month.”
He shook his head. “Per month? That can’t be right. I don’t remember the specific terms of the GAL Friday contract, but I wouldn’t have hired anybody at that rate—I don’t draw 40K per month. The company can’t afford to pay that.”
“No, it can’t—but Michaela and GAL Friday aren’t receiving that much. GAL Friday’s fee is 13,000 credits. Their take is 3K, Michaela receives 10K—so where is the other 27,000 per month going?”
“Phuk!” Korsan fell into his chair and looked up with shadowed eyes.
“I swear on our parents’ ashes—” He ran his hand over his jaw.
“I will get to the bottom of this. I will have a complete audit conducted of the finances and investigate the staff because obviously someone on the inside is involved.”
“I brought anomalies to your attention before, and you brushed them aside.”
“I’m taking it seriously now. I’ll get the auditor on this immediately.”
A huge weight fell from his shoulders. He’s not behind this.
“It might be better if you brought in an outsider, a forensic accountant,” he advised. “I’m not accusing him, but how do you know that your auditor is not involved?”
“I can’t believe he’d do anything like that. He’s been with me since I started the company. The only person I trust more is you, but I can see your point.”
“I’d be happy to assist whoever you hire,” he offered.
“I appreciate that, but given what you discovered at Starlight, I’d like you to visit all SIH’s properties—incognito—as well as the other subsidiary sites and check them out for anomalies.
The sooner you can leave, the better, so you can forward any discrepancies to the forensic accountant.
I’ll get one on board ASAP, and I’ll hire an investigator to probe deeper into the backgrounds of the staff. ”
“Michaela can do that. That’s her expertise.”
Korsan shook his head. “You still need her. The people who attacked you still haven’t been apprehended. How is the investigation coming along, by the way?”
“Michaela got some leads, but she’s still working on it.”
“All the more reason not to add more to her plate. I’d like her to accompany you to the subsidiary sites. Her expertise can best be used there.”
“Okay. We’ll leave after she sees a doctor.”
“A doctor? What’s wrong?”
“She had a life-threatening allergic reaction on Elyxis 4.”
“Is she all right?”
“Fine now. Thankfully the Starlight had a doctor on staff. Dr. Adanna ruled out the food, but we have to follow up.”
Last night, they’d heated up frozen dinners at his apartment.
Exhausted after the flight and the stress of the break-in, they’d crashed, both of them falling asleep almost instantly.
On the positive side, there’d been no middle-of-the-night allergy attacks.
They’d grabbed breakfast buns from a street vendor cart, and she’d eaten that with no problem.
“For sure. Right away. It’s even more important now since you’ll both be traveling off planet.”
He’d accused him of terrible things, and Korsan was being so reasonable and open, guilt smote him. “I’m sorry for—”
“Hey. We’re good.” His brother came around the desk and hugged him. “You shocked me, but we’re good.”
“I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions—”
“Remember when we were kids, and I got you to eat dirt by telling you it would make you invisible?” He laughed. “I pretended I couldn’t see you. I kept bumping into you. You believed me.”
“You got into big trouble with Father.”
“You can consider us even now.” Korsan slapped him on the back.