Chapter 2 - The Audit of Shadows
The silence in the room didn’t just sit; it pressed. Alec Cortez looked down at the yellow eviction notice, his eyes tracing the jagged, uneven folds. A thirty-day demand. Delinquency. A threat of immediate displacement over an amount of money that wouldn't cover the cost of the scotch sitting in the crystal decanter to his left.
"Carmine," Alec said, his voice dropping into a register that made his underboss immediately straighten. "Who handles the maintenance and facility subcontracts for Cortez Tower?"
"It’s outsourced through a shell entity we acquired last winter, Boss," Carmine replied quickly, his eyes darting between Alec and the little girl whose light-up shoes were still intermittently blinking blue. "Apex Management Services. It’s supposed to be an automated payroll system. Clean, quiet, out of sight."
"Then why is it screaming in my face?" Alec asked. He didn't look up, but his thumb brushed the edge of the yellow paper.
Mia didn't back down. She stood her ground on the Persian rug, her small chest rising and falling with heavy, defiant breaths. "My mom says that when people don't do their jobs, they get fired. Are you going to fire the computer, or are you going to pay her?"
For a fraction of a second, the ghost of a smile touched Alec’s lips, though his eyes remained entirely cold. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a heavy, leather-bound ledger along with a sleek, matte-black fountain pen. He didn't need a computer to know his numbers. He knew exactly what went into his accounts, and more importantly, what was supposed to come out.
"A theft under my name isn't just an administrative error," Alec murmured, speaking more to the room than to the child. "It’s a declaration that someone thinks I’m no longer paying attention."
He opened a secure phone line on his desk, pressing a single speed-dial button. "Get Marcus Vance up here. Now. And tell him to bring the Q2 disbursements for domestic operations."
He hung up without waiting for a response. Then, he looked directly at Mia. "Sit down, Mia Hayes."
"I don't want to sit. I want the money."
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"You’ll get the money," Alec said, his tone carrying the absolute weight of a verdict. "But in this office, we do things systematically. Carmine, go downstairs. Find Elena Hayes. Bring her here. Quietly. Do not cause a scene, and do not frighten her more than your face already does."
Carmine nodded once, slipped his hands into his pockets, and vanished through the heavy oak doors, leaving the billionaire mafia boss alone with a seven-year-old in a faded pink corduroy jacket.
