Chapter 35

CHAPTER35

“What’s the meaning of this?” Harold asked as Devyn was forced to sit there, clenching his jaw tightly shut as he watched Lucas stand up.

“It’s with deep regret that I was forced to call this meeting,” Lucas began only to pause and take a shaky breath before he continued. “After the unfortunate circumstances with the Hillshire Hotels deal, I felt compelled to take a closer look to see how it got that far. I wasn’t sure what I expected when I decided to investigate the matter, but I wasn’t prepared for what I found.”

With a pained look in Devyn’s direction, Lucas picked up the remote and turned on the monitor, his eyes never leaving Devyn’s as the board members took in the figures now displayed on the large flatscreen in front of them.

“Tell me that this is a joke,” Harold demanded.

“How did this happen?” Janet demanded as all eyes turned to Devyn.

“I hired a team of investigators to track the missing funds, but unfortunately at this time, we haven’t been able to find them. We do know that over twenty-five million dollars has been stolen at this point, possibly more. Once we realized what was happening, I was able to secure the remaining funds and stop any more withdrawals from occurring,” Lucas explained as Devyn struggled to stay where he was when all he wanted to do was tear the building apart and look for Andi, but that wasn’t an option.

Not when he knew what Lucas was capable of, and right now, he knew that Lucas had nothing to lose. He couldn’t risk anything happening to Andi. Christ, just the thought of someone hurting her had him on the verge of losing his fucking mind.

“I don’t understand. Why weren’t we informed of this sooner?” came the question that had Lucas clearing his throat as he reached for the folder in front of him.

“Because I was told by our CEO that the matter was being handled,” Lucas said as he handed the file to his godfather.

“Is this true, Devyn?” Harold asked, but Devyn refused to play this fucking game. He glanced down at his phone and-

Nothing.

Shit!

Where the hell was she?

“I left the matter in Mr. MacGregor’s hands and thought the matter was handled when he requested an early audit and began visiting Carta Hotels, but I soon discovered that he was using the opportunity to destroy evidence,” Lucas explained.

“You’re saying that Devyn did this?” Harold demanded, shaking his head in disbelief as Lucas looked at him expectantly while he reached into his pocket and pulled out Andi’s phone, reminding him of what he had to lose.

“Yes,” Devyn said, his eyes never leaving Lucas as he reached for the resignation letter that had been prepared for him.

Ignoring the gasps of outrage and the demand for answers, Devyn picked up the pen and-

Found himself tossing the pen back on the table and shoving his chair back when he heard the four words that brought him back to the first time that she’d saved his ass as the boardroom doors were thrown open and Andi came stumbling into the room, hugging a large stack of files against her chest.

“Please don’t sign anything!”

“What the hell’s going on here?” came the outraged demand that Devyn barely heard as he moved to go pull Andi into his arms, only to sigh heavily as the adorable woman that was driving him fucking crazy rushed past him.

God, he was going to spank her ass, Devyn thought, sighing as he turned around and watched as she placed the stack of files on the table and then with a mumbled, “Excuse me,” she reached for the laptop on the table only to realize that it was out of her reach. With a muttered curse, she climbed onto the table and grabbed it before Lucas, who looked stunned, had a chance to snatch it away.

“Someone call security!” Lucas snapped as he moved to grab the laptop only to go still when Andi absently mumbled, “No worries. I already called the police.”

Devyn watched as Lucas swallowed hard as his gaze shot to him and then back to Andi again as he watched her open a file and type something into the computer. Within seconds, his gaze went from panicked to determined.

“Thank you for saving me the trouble,” Lucas said smoothly as he clicked to the next slide.

“Is someone going to tell us what’s going on?” Harold demanded, looking from his godson to Andi, who was already lost in thought as she altered between tearing through files and working on the computer.

“I’m afraid that Miss Dawson is making a last-ditch effort to help Mr. MacGregor,” Lucas said, moving to direct everyone’s attention back to the monitor.

“He locked me in a file room,” Andi murmured absently as she continued doing whatever it was that she was doing as every set of eyes shot to Lucas.

Clearing his throat, Lucas said, “That’s not true.”

Grumbling to herself, Andi quickly typed something on the computer, clicked on something else, and-

“Oh, come on!”Andi’s voice filled the room as a video feed of the offices that Lucas used for the Hillshire Hotels project took over the monitor.

“Keep her locked in there until after the board meeting,” the image of Lucas said to the large and very familiar-looking man standing in front of the door. With a few more clicks and a muttered curse, the image fast-forwarded to what sounded like Andi singing A Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall, drawing her brother’s attention to her location and the asshole guarding the door, which explained how she got out, Devyn thought.

Clearing his throat, Lucas moved to open his mouth and noticed that every board member was staring at him. That was followed by him clearing his throat again, murmuring, “Excuse me,” and heading for the door only to stop when he saw Drew standing in the doorway, looking incredibly pissed.

“Would someone please tell us what’s going on,” Harold said, sounding incredibly pissed as Devyn stood there, his glare locked on Lucas.

“After Miss Dawson discovered that Hillshire Hotels was on the verge of bankruptcy, I asked her to have a closer look at the project. The deal never should have got as far as it did, so I wanted answers. Miss Dawson was able to discover that the funds that had been allocated for the project were being embezzled.”

“The funds were transferred to several Carta Hotels properties into dormant accounts. Within a couple of days, each hotel was contacted and made aware of a transferring mistake and were asked to transfer the money back into what appeared to be a Carta Hotels’ bank account. The transfers happened twice a month like clockwork. The transfers immediately stopped when the Hillshire Hotels project was terminated.”

“I ordered an audit under the guise of preparing for the upcoming review of my contract. Miss Dawson accompanied me and together, we went through every audit, interviewed staff and we were able to uncover the extent of the embezzlement. We also discovered the responsible party, James Jamerson,” Devyn explained, making Harold frown in confusion.

“I’ve never heard of this man.”

“No one has,” Devyn said, watching as Lucas clenched his jaw tightly shut. “He has been very busy working behind the scenes, arranging transfers, intercepting audits, and doing everything that he could to keep us distracted.”

“I believe Miss Dawson did a wonderful job of that,” Lucas bit out evenly.

“What’s he talking about?” came the question that had Devyn conceding a point to the asshole that had overplayed his hand.

“He’s been having an affair with Miss Dawson, which is the real reason why he decided to spend the last month visiting Carta Hotels’ properties. It’s also the reason why we’re here. She’s been helping him clean up his mess,” Lucas said with a look that told him that he knew damn well that Devyn didn’t have any proof that would tie this mess to him.

That was true, but…

It wasn’t going to stop him from making sure that the little bastard paid for what he did to Andi.

“Mr. Anderson created a VP position for James Jamerson, authorized transfers, opened bank accounts, and interfered with the operations of this company,” Devyn said before adding, “And then he threatened Miss Dawson’s safety in order to force my cooperation.”

“There’s only one problem with that story, I don’t have the authorization to do any of that,” Lucas said, folding his arms over his chest as he leveled a smug look as he added, “You do.”

“So does she,” Andi said absently, not bothering to look up from whatever she was doing to point a damning finger across the room at the last person that Devyn would have suspected.

“I have no idea what she’s talking about,” Janet said, looking just as stunned as the rest of them.

“She authorized everything from Jamerson’s position to the transfers, opened accounts, closed them, and made sure that Lucas had access to everything that he needed,” Andi explained as she gestured to the monitor.

“Holy shit…”

“She was also instrumental in the attack on Mr. MacGregor,” Andi explained as the screen showed text messages with her phone number, letting someone know Devyn’s every move, including the fact that she was following him to his office.

“We were having a difficult time putting the pieces together because of the missing files, but thankfully, Mr. Anderson was kind enough to create a fake hotel for every transfer. He set up accounts for them under Carta Hotels’ name and managed to bury them in projects that were long forgotten,” Andi said as a financial form for Cresmford Hotel, a hotel that he’d never heard about before, appeared on the screen next to one for Charlton Hotel, showing the transfer from Charlton to Cremsford.

“That’s not my signature at the bottom,” Lucas pointed out, gesturing to Devyn’s signature at the bottom.

“True, but this is,” Andi said as another form appeared on the screen, one granting him access to the account along with the opening date of the account four months before Devyn had been hired.

“They started testing transfers before Mr. MacGregor was hired. I also found the emails and letters from Hillshire Hotels to the fake account that Mr. Anderson set up, informing him of the hotel’s dire situation. They suggested that Carta buy the buildings instead of stock, but Lucas refused, stating that Carta was interested in a lucrative partnership with Hillshire Hotels. That’s what the stock purchase took two years to complete. Mr. Anderson assured them that Mr. MacGregor was well aware of the situation and had a plan to turn it all around. There was no fraud on Hillshire Hotels’ behalf, which is why I’m assuming they’re refusing to talk to Carta Hotels at the moment,” Andi explained while Devyn stood there, taking it all in and…

“You were never going to let that deal go through, were you?” Devyn said, nodding slowly when a muscle in Lucas’s jaw twitched. “You set up a project that you never planned to see through so that you could embezzle twenty-five million dollars and what? What was the plan, Lucas?”

“Your job,” Andi supplied, not bothering to look up at him as she grabbed a file off the stack next to her and handed it to him. “He kept meticulous records.”

“My job,” Devyn murmured, nodding as he opened the file and glanced down at the glowing recommendation to the board from the woman pushing her chair back only to find herself surrounded by several police officers.

“You little shit!” Harold snapped, getting to his feet. “I put my ass on the line for you and gave you a job to keep you out of trouble and this is how you repay me?”

“If it helps, they transferred all the money into accounts for those dummy hotels and since they forged Mr. MacGregor’s signature on the accounts, I’m pretty sure that he can authorize it all back,” Andi said, taking him by surprise.

“It’s all there?” Devyn asked, glancing back at Andi to find her nodding.

“They couldn’t risk tying themselves to the money, so they put it in a safe place where it collected a decent amount of interest, but it’s all there,” Andi said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal.

“Why the hell weren’t we informed about this from the start?” Andrew demanded, looking like he was going to be sick as Lucas headed for the door.

“I’ll explain in a minute,” Devyn said, moving to go after Lucas.

“Take your sister home,” Devyn told Drew as he grabbed hold of Lucas and slammed him against the wall.

“Wait! I’m being helpful!” Andi yelled as Drew grabbed hold of her and carried her to the door.

As soon as she was gone, Devyn pulled back his fist and-

Was taken by surprise when Harold beat him to it. He watched as Lucas slammed back against the wall, looking just as stunned as blood began pouring out of his nose. Before he could reach up and cup his nose, the police were there, grabbing him.

“Looks like we need to have a talk,” Harold said, rubbing the back of his hand as Devyn found himself looking into the hallway just in time to see Drew carry Andi onto the elevator.

“Yes, we do,” Devyn said, swallowing hard as he forced himself to stand there and let her go.