Chapter 3
The audit began with four vendor contracts.
It expanded to twelve before lunch.
The numbers were not catastrophic.
That almost made them more dangerous.
No enormous transfer.
No single million-dollar theft screaming from a ledger.
Instead, there were padded service fees.
Duplicate event-planning charges.
Consulting payments attached to legitimate invoices.
Rush fees nobody remembered authorizing.
Amounts small enough to survive casual review.
Large enough to become serious over time.
The common vendor was Lawson Event Strategies.
Alessia looked at the name.
“Garrett told me that company belonged to an old college friend.”
The forensic accountant, Ellen Brooks, turned her laptop.
“It’s registered through two holding companies.”
“Who owns them?”
“We’re still tracing it.”
Miriam sat at the conference table with her wrist brace on.
She pointed toward another invoice.
“This one.”
Luxury floral coordination.
Seventy-eight thousand dollars.
The florist who actually decorated the gala had billed twenty-six.
“What happened to the difference?” Alessia asked.
Ellen answered carefully.
“That’s what we’re finding.”
The gala itself became evidence too.
The event planner provided seating charts, vendor lists, security coordination, and guest additions.
Three names caught Alessia’s attention.
Charles Renner, corporate counsel.
Jonathan Field, an independent director of Carbone Hospitality.
Sarah Whitmore, an outside trustee of the Relief Foundation.
None normally attended private Carbone family events.
All three had been added by Garrett.
Five days before the gala.
“Why?” Alessia asked.
The planner shrugged.
“Mr. Lawson said Mrs. Carbone wanted a more professional presence because the foundation was becoming more public.”
Alessia looked at Miriam.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“I didn’t either.”
The planner also produced a seating revision.
Miriam’s original place had been beside Alessia.
Garrett changed it.
He placed Miriam four tables away, near a service entrance.
Evelyn’s seat moved into the place beside Alessia.
The change was made the morning of the gala.
Miriam looked embarrassed.
“I noticed.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because seats are seats.”
“No.”
Alessia’s voice softened.
“Not to them.”
The humiliation had begun before Garrett used his shoe.
Alessia could see the structure now.
Move Miriam away.
Place Evelyn beside Alessia.
Invite outside business witnesses.
Then create a confrontation in the center of the ballroom.
Still, one piece bothered her.
If Garrett wanted to hide financial misconduct, humiliating Miriam publicly was reckless.
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It drew exactly the kind of attention a guilty person should avoid.
Unless attention itself had been useful.
