“Exactly. Nine employees getting paid who don’t exist. That’s

payroll fraud.”

He whistled under his breath. “If that’s been happening for ten

years-”

“It’s a million–dollar bleed,” I finished. “Someone’s been

syphoning money by inflating the headcount.“‘

He began pacing. “This means someone inside the system-

maybe mid–level or even at the auditing stage–knows how to

manipulate the checks. The list goes through layers, but no one

really verifies every name manually at the top.”

“Which is why it never triggered a red flag until now,” I

murmured. “It’s disguised just enough to look clean, but the

numbers don’t lie.”

“We need to report this to Alpha Alexander,” Gai said

immediately.

I nodded. “Yes. But he’s going to be swamped with the alpha

summit tomorrow.”

Gai rubbed his temple. “Then?”

Chapter 5

“I’ll go to the factory,” I said. “In person. Quietly. If we can

identify who’s behind it before bringing it to Alexander, we’ll

have a stronger case.”

Gai looked at me with something between concern and respect.

“You’re serious.”

I just turned back to the

scrolling for more anomalies.

neither Olivia nor Gai noticed was the man

a nearby

dangled between his fingers, forgotten, as

behind a glass

hardening with

had stumbled upon… wasn’t just a minor payroll error. It was a thread tied directly to something he

worked hard to bury.

they were pulling

Olivia’s POV

ended later than expected.

restaurant, I caught a glimpse

serious look etched

I muttered, half

Gai said beside me. “When he tapped his card

out just now, he fumbled

he’s been

match the Alpha’s usual control. But before I could reply, Jess suddenly

under

and focused. She reached Alexander quickly, her hand slipping

who had done it a hundred

she said in

the wine

Alexander didn’t hesitate. “No.”

sharp. Final. He pulled his

even looking at

tried to

carpet was slightly uneven, and

just a bit too long on

forward. Gai and I were just

both reached out

faster.

stepped in with her arms out, body tilting

I

Chapter 35

blur of movement, Alexander twisted away

and turned

caught my wrist so tightly that I yelped. In

me toward

forward, crashing

bumped hers, and for a terrifying

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255