Chapter Eleven
Ayden
I unloaded the last filing box I had brought from Jace's house. The office was sleek and modern with a dark-stained desk and low bookshelves that did not conceal the fishbowl glass walls. I decided that in order to fight David's attempt to take over Knight Holdings, I had to be present. He was always up to something.
As if on cue, I glanced through the glass wall on my left and saw David loping down the hallway. There was no way he did not see me setting up my new office, but the short man continued on his way without a second glance. Ever since he had run into me at Autumn's apartment, David had pretended I did not exist.
Unfortunately, I could not do the same. It was impossible to forget how he had spewed nonsense and yelled at Autumn. I had personally repaired the dry wall in the hallway, but things had definitely changed. David knew I was a direct threat and not about to give in to his tantrums. It was better if we pretended not to see each other in the glass-walled office.
I forced myself to turn back to my new desk. I was sorting through a mess of files when Autumn appeared in the doorway and saved me with a bright smile.
"Nice to see you here, Mr. King," she said.
I watched her lean on the doorframe, pop her hip out, and cross her delicate ankles. It was hard not to wish for solid walls.
As if reading my mind Autumn laughed and said, "Good thing they're mostly sound proof because I really want to tell you how hungry I am, and I'm not talking about food."
Her randy statement was made with such an expression of mundane conversation that I was impressed as well as turned on. Flirting with Autumn in the open forum of the office was another new challenge I was going to have fun mastering.
"Well, I'm sure there's nothing unusual about us taking an early lunch together. In fact, I'm sure Darla can put a meeting on the books for us." I pried my eyes off Autumn's tight sheath dress.
"Poor Darla," Autumn sighed. She stood up and glanced out towards reception. "David has been after her all morning. He wants every employee to use the new calendar app so he can monitor what everyone is doing every day. No wonder there seems to be an upswing of technical problems today."
"Speaking of our nosy co-worker, has he said anything to you?" I stood up and tried again to organize the papers on my desk.
"No, not yet. Here, let me help you with that." Autumn stepped over to my side of the desk but stopped when she heard my sharp inhale.
"Sorry," I muttered, "I'm just not sure how casual I can appear with you this close to me."
Autumn's cheeks warmed as she gathered up the papers and retreated to the opposite side of the desk. "Too bad about that early lunch idea because I heard a few of the visiting board members mention they want to take you out to lunch."
"So David hasn't completely knocked me out of the running yet?"
Autumn neatly shuffled the papers and filed them away. "Not at all. The board members are not easily swayed either way."
"Is something wrong?" I reached out for the stack of mail Autumn was sorting, but she pulled back.
Her face was pale and a sheen of sweat glistened near her blonde hairline. "No. Everything's fine. Do you think we can meet at the home office after your lunch?"
"I like the way you think," I grinned.
It was hard to stay focused on impressing the board members over lunch when all I could think about was Autumn waiting for me at home. As my town car drove through the tall wrought-iron gates and dropped me at the front door, I realized for the first time I was thinking of Jace's mansion as home. It had been a long time, even longer than my prison sentence, since I had thought of any place as home.
I grinned as I walked up the wide front steps and under the archway of wisteria. It really did feel like home, and I knew it was because of Jace. When my mother passed away and things unraveled at home, the only place I felt like I fit in was at Jace's side. In a way, he had become my home and now that he was gone, the only place I felt the same way was in the space he had left behind.
Not that I was complaining. Sure, it might have been harder if Jace had been dirt poor and living in a shanty by a bog. The Las Vegas mansion was an easy choice, but what surprised me was how comfortable I really felt there.
I resisted the urge to wander through the house and continue to marvel over the new feeling. Instead, I went straight to the home office and winked at Jace's portrait.
"Alright, alright, you were right and I was wrong. We would have fought tooth and nail over me living here while you were alive but, you were right, this is home. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough," I said to the oil painting.
"You know I'm doing all of this for you," I continued, as I sat down at the desk and put my feet up. "I'm fighting off your weasel of a former business manager, bringing ideas for new technology to Knight Holdings, and doing my best to play nice so the board elects me. Not bad for a kid that could never complete a fifty-yard play."
I looked around the office and had to take a few deep breaths. It all felt right, but that did not mean it did not overwhelm me. Sometimes the weight of the changes trampled over me like a herd of cattle and left me breathless.
"Everything okay?" Autumn's bright voice pulled me from my thoughts. "You look so serious. The board members didn't make you nervous did they?"
"No, no. In fact, they want to introduce me to the finer points of golf later this week. Looks like I might have to try out Jace's putting green after all." I lowered my feet to the floor and stood up as she came in. "Now I know what I hoped your meeting request was about, but that manila envelope looks a little too much like actual paperwork."
Autumn put the manila envelope on the edge of the desk and sank into one of the chairs facing me. "Actually, I would rather do anything in the world than go over this, but it’s important."
My mind spiraled out of control as I thought about things I wanted to do with Autumn. I had a few very specific ideas about us in the enormous soaking tub upstairs, but I knew from her face it was not the time to venture suggestions. "Want to give me the overview?"
"No," she shook her tidy blonde hair. "I'd rather you look through it and tell me what you see."
I picked up the manila envelope and slipped out the large stack of papers. Autumn's eyes welled with tears as I began leafing through the pages. It was hard to concentrate on the letters, account summaries, and various reports with her near tears, but odd details started to catch my eye.
"I've never heard of this employee, Taylor Martin. Have you?" I asked, as I skimmed the top letter.
Autumn tipped her head back and blinked her eyes rapidly before she said, "No, but keep reading what he has to say."
I settled back in my leather desk chair with the papers in my lap. The more I read and skimmed, the clearer it became. "If I had to make a guess I would say that this Taylor Martin is a forensic accountant. It looks like Jace hired him to check up on David's account management."
"How did you know the term 'forensic accountant?' I had to look it up," Autumn sniffled.
"Federal prison, remember? A third of the guys there were brought down by forensic accountants." I sat forward and spread the papers out across the desk. "It looks like Jace hired him a week or so before I got out."
"I'm sorry to dump this on you, Ayden." Autumn smoothed her hair down and took a deep breath. "I should have organized it all and gotten my head wrapped around it before I handed it over to you."
"Nonsense. After everything you've done for me at work, there is no reason why you can't expect a little help with something this, ah, complicated." I started to divide the stack of papers into piles according to what was outlined in Taylor Martin's letter. "It looks like Jace's last hire gathered a lot of information. Let's hope most of this translates right into evidence."
"I can't believe Jace had his suspicions about David but never said anything to either one of us!" Autumn stood up and paced around the home office.
"That was Jace. He would never talk bad about someone unless he had a solid reason."
"I just wish he had thought about all of this before he agreed to go to David's meeting that night." She collapsed in the chair again.
My fingers gripped the edges of the papers hard enough to leave a crease. "According to this, David embezzled upwards of $1.5 million."
"I know," Autumn's voice wobbled. "I read that far. What you need to look at is the annotations about the Mertz brothers."
I put down the papers and reached for her hand across the desk. "Come on, Autumn, out with it. I need to know what's got you so upset. You with tears in yours eyes is--"
"No. No," she waved my hand away. "I need you to read over it yourself. I'm not going to skew your opinion with my theories. This is too important."
It was hard to breathe around the ice forming in my chest. Autumn was doing her best to hold herself together, but even the hint of tears made me want to scoop her up in my arms or go out and destroy some unseen enemy. The last thing I thought I was capable of doing was concentrating on the meticulous paper trail.
I sat back again and pulled out the section on the Mertz brothers. They had a despicable business reputation though all of that was word of mouth. Taylor Martin reported the impressions from interviews, and then outlined the evidence he was able to pull from David's own dealings with them.
Stuck in the middle of the report was an overview of David's personal finances. The amount of debt he held was staggering, and I rocked too far back in my desk chair. Feeling unsteady, I stood up and leaned my hands on the desk. I forced myself to breathe as I put together the pieces Jace's forensic accountant had left neatly in the stack of papers.
"He changed his M. O.," I muttered.
"What?" Autumn had cleared her throat and sounded steady again.
"His method for embezzling was always the same, but he suddenly changed it. The Mertz brothers account was supposed to be one big score that settled his outrageous debts. I'm thinking they covered him financially in return for the account with Knight Holdings."
"The deal that David was adamant Jace sign the night he died," she whispered.
I pulled out the last piece of paper and felt the floor buck underneath my feet. I read it over again though my vision was fading to a red haze. I knew from talking to hundreds of white collar cell mates that the smoking gun was usually just one simple piece of paper.
I tried not to crush that last letter as I called for my driver and strode out the front door.
* * * * *
Autumn remained quiet in the car, tangling her fingers together until her knuckles were white. She did not want to discuss anything in front of the town car driver. Once she tried to reach for the piece of paper I held, but I moved it away from her.
When we arrived at Knight Holdings headquarters, the driver opened the door for Autumn. I should have waited, but the letter was like a lit fuse in my hands. I had to get to David's office before I exploded.
"Ayden, wait, please!" Autumn ran up the steps behind me.
I could not wait for the elevator and burst into the stairwell. "Don't worry, I've thought it all through. I'm not going to kill him, just confront him."
"David?" She jogged up the stairs behind me despite her high heels. "What letter is that? What did I miss?"
I pushed both glass doors open and startled poor Darla. "Where is David?"
She could not point as her hand was pressed to her leaping heart. "Conference room," Darla squeaked.
"Please, Ayden, slow down," Autumn pleaded on my heels.
I ripped open the frosted glass door of the conference room and was disappointed to find David meeting with two website designers. I wished it had been the entire board.
"Get out," I told the young employees. They leapt up and almost collided with Darla in the doorway. "We are not to be disturbed."
Autumn shut the door behind her and stood in front of it. I knew her heart was hammering, and she was out of breath from the stairs, but not a hint showed. She smoothed down her business dress and fixed David with an icy stare. Autumn was stunning and for a moment I wished I could focus on her instead of the disgusting business at hand.
"I'm sure the board is going to be very interested in your professionalism," David sniped. "I'll be sure to tell them about this the next time it comes up."
"First, you might want to mention to them that Jace expected your resignation," I said. I slammed the letter down on the glass conference table. "He drafted it himself. The date is of particular interest."
David slunk around the table to glance down at the letter. "I'm not sure what you think this means. Unfortunately, this was never signed, and Jace no longer makes decisions for this company," he sniffed.
"The date," Autumn picked up the letter and gripped it with both hands. "The date is the same day that Jace was killed."
David's eyes dilated with fear, but he took a casual stance on one foot while the other tapped impatiently. "What exactly do you think that implies?"
I stepped closer and forced him to skirt around the corner of the table. "It means that Jace confronted you the night of the Mertz brothers' deal. He knew you had been embezzling for years, and he wanted you to resign. You couldn't have that so you made sure that Jace never returned home that night, and you thought you destroyed the only copy of the resignation letter."
David adjusted his cuff links. "Too bad you can't prove any of that. This letter is meaningless, especially if you try to bring it to the board. It will just look like a flimsy attempt to undermine me."
"You really think the board is going to elect a murderer?" Autumn hissed, aware of Darla hovering near the other side of the conference room door.
I could not be so subtle. One step and I grabbed the back of David's head. His beady eyes widened and his smug mouth formed a perfect 'O' before I slammed his head against the table. I held him in place on top of the resignation letter as his arms flailed uselessly.
"You impaired Jace's driving. You made sure he went off that curve, and you must have bribed the first responders to blame it on drugs and alcohol. You really didn't know him at all, did you?" I snarled in his ear.
"Jace Knight might never have taken drugs or drank too much, but who are people going to believe? There are a hundred ways someone could have tampered with his car and sent him over that cliff."
"You did it," I pushed his head down harder.
"And so what if I did?" The pitch of David's voice rose higher. "I cut his brake line and watched him go over that cliff. It doesn't matter because you can't prove it!"
I let him up and brushed my hands together as if I could get rid of the filth. David's smug smile was back in place, and I had to hold my hands rigid to keep from punching him square across his weak chin. He adjusted his suit coat and tried to head for the door.
"Did you know that Jace hired a forensic accountant? His name is Taylor Martin. I believe his office is two doors down. Should I have him join us?" Autumn asked, without moving from the doorway.
"And I gotta say, David, for all your corporate experience, you really have no idea how to cover your tracks. Luckily, I heard fifteen years worth of pointers." I unbuttoned my suit coat and revealed the wire I was wearing. "Same story time and again; forensic accountants and the crook's own words speaking the truth."
He was trapped between Autumn and I, his beady eyes bulging out of his head. "What are you going to do now?"
I tapped the buzzer in the center of the conference table. "Darla, would you mind calling the police? We'd like them to join us."
* * * * *
The next time Autumn and I entered the headquarters of Knight Holdings, I managed to hold the door open for her. Inside, every single employee had gathered around Darla's desk. As soon as we stepped foot inside they began to clap. The applause thundered as everyone came forward to shake our hands.
"It's amazing. Awful, but amazing," Darla said, before the crowd surged around her.
"Thank you so much."
"You did the right thing, and we've told the board we think so."
"Finally it feels like justice for Mr. Knight."
Autumn moved smoothly through the thankful crowd, knowing everyone's names and doling out hugs. I followed in her wake and shook the brave employees hands. I still made a lot of people nervous, and after my last explosive entrance, I could not blame them.
"Oh, how wonderful!" Autumn cried, as the employees finally let us through to the conference room door.
Just outside, the Jace Knight memorial had been put back in place. His corporate headshot was replaced with an employee holiday party picture, his paper crown askew over his wide, all encompassing grin. Employees had added bouquets of flowers, handwritten notes, and personal photographs of their beloved boss.
"David's not here anymore to tell us to take it down," Darla said.
"I think it could be a perfect permanent addition to the office, don't you, Autumn?"
She smiled at me and opened the conference room door. "After you, Mr. King."
The entire board was seated around the glass conference table with only two open seats. Autumn and I sat down across from each other in the middle of the table. I was glad to catch her brief glance of encouragement.
Mr. Anton cleared his throat and stood up at the head of the table. "First of all, I have to report that David Rooke has been arrested and charged with embezzlement. Thanks to the meticulous report from a Mr. Taylor Martin, it looks like he will be looking at time in federal prison. The police are also investigating allegations that Mr. Rooke played a part in Jace Knight's death. While the details are not yet clear, it does appear the first responders have admitted to accepting bribes from Mr. Rooke. Needless to say, this has come as quite a shock to all of us."
Autumn cleared her throat as the full conference room swiveled their attention to her. "I have been taking over Mr. Rooke's former position as Business Manager so despite everything, we hope for a smooth transition."
"Yes, thank you, Autumn. Your willingness to step up has always been appreciated," Mr. Anton said. Then he cleared his throat. "We also wish to thank you, Ayden, for bringing all of this information to light. You continue to build a reputation as a smart and savvy businessman, but I have to admit the board still has reservations about you. In light of recent events, it appears you can also be a hard, exacting, and perhaps vengeful person."
"Mr. Anton, if I may," Autumn stood up. "I believe that Ayden has been forced to act as many people would never dare. In order to bring about justice for his friend, he has sacrificed his own professional reputation, and that was a huge and honorable risk. The truth is, gentlemen, that Knight Holdings needs a hard and exacting CEO. We need someone people will think twice about making a deal with because they know they will have to live up to their end of the bargain. As the vultures are circling, I think Ayden and his somewhat tarnished reputation are exactly what we need to protect us as we move into the future."
Mr. Anton could not quite hide his smile as he turned to me. "Would you like to add anything to that?"
"No, sir. Thank you." I forced my hands to stay still on the glass table.
"Then I propose we vote directly and begin to move past all of this," Mr. Anton said.
The board members all nodded and the vote proceeded. They actually wrote down their decisions on small slips of paper and placed them on a silver coffee tray. Autumn circled around and gathered them all before delivering them to Mr. Anton at the head of the conference table.
He took his time unfolding, smoothing, and tallying each vote. Finally, he stood up and cleared his throat. "It was a very slim margin. That leads me to believe the term 'interim' is still appropriate, and we will plan on a permanent decision sometime in the near future. As of today, though, Mr. Ayden King has been elected Interim CEO of Knight Holdings."
There was no raucous round of applause, only a few smiles of encouragement, and a few frowns of disapproval. In the yawning quiet, I took a deep breath and stood up to address the board for the first time.
"My first order of business as Interim CEO of Knight Holdings is to assure you our first focus is to get back to the business at hand. Jace Knight built a solid company. He had careful strategies in mind when he conceived the idea for this empire, and he kept those business tactics in place as long as he was here. I plan to honor him not only for his sterling reputation, but also for his sharp business acumen. I am here to support the hard work already in place, not tear it down."
The board members nodded, looked around at each other, and gave a light smattering of applause. It finally sunk in as the meeting adjourned, and we filtered out into the lobby.
Darla beamed from her desk. It was obvious she had listened in on the conference line. "Congratulations, Mr. King. Anything you need right away?"
"Actually, yes. I'll be taking Autumn out for the afternoon. We are taking the rest of the day to celebrate together."
"Yes, sir," Darla said with a pleased smile. "That's wonderful news too."