Knight: Over The Edge Part 29

I sigh, "Yes, yes he did. He's a sneaky a.s.shole."

I storm to his office throw open the door and shout.

"You're not getting away with that. I expect a romantic proposal at some point before the wedding."

Then I slam the door and walk back to Gracie.

She's laughing quietly at me.

"What?" I ask "He can't just demand I marry him."

"I love working with you two."

She continues laughing.

"Oh a Jenny Malone is coming in at eleven this morning. Keep my calendar free until at least one I'm not sure how long it's going to take with her."

I tell Gracie as she makes notations on the calendar in front of her.

I don't envy her some days. She is my a.s.sistant, but she keeps mine and Cole's work and personal calendars both. That's not an easy task. I seriously hope we are paying her enough for all that she does.

I go into my office. I fire up the laptop sitting there. I begin moving papers out of the way as I set up for my work day.

"Here is some papers that were faxed to you from the office in California."

"Thanks Gracie."

I take the papers showing me a summary of Miguel's accounts. I also note that Charles has handwritten at the bottom that I have been a sent an email with all the files as well as backup copies being sent overnight by Fed Ex. I'm a little concerned that in two different locations someone is skimming money from my family. It crosses my mind there is a possibility of them being connected since both deal with the sports side of Bruce's companies.

The gym is one that trains boxers that go out and fight with Bruce as their sponsor. Miguel is a fighter sponsored by Bruce. I mentally note that fact in my mind as I go through records. I spend the next hour or so working on organizing the stuff Charles's sent me regarding Miguel. I glance at the time to see it's almost eleven and begin saving and clearing up the files on Miguel. I place the folder into a locked drawer in my desk. I walk out front.

"Is Cole in his office?" I ask Gracie.

"Yes and he's alone."

"Thanks" I call to her "Let me know when Ms. Malone arrives please."

Cole's working at the drafting table and I enter quietly and walk up to stand behind him. I watch as he sketches. He is redesigning a cottage from a falling down piece of junk to a beautiful showpiece.

"Who's that for?"

"It's an old friend of the family apparently she use to work for my grandparents. She lived in this home with her husband for over forty years but my dad went by not too long ago found the house in ruins and her being neglected by her own children." Cole sighs.

"So your dad is fixing it up for her?"

"Yea that man always surprises me when he does something like this."

"He's been showing me kindness for years. He rewards loyalty Cole."

He places his pencil down turning on his stool to face me.

"It still shocks me sometimes. He's sending her on a two week cruise when she comes home we'll have remodeled the place and updated everything to meet code."

I smile. Bruce has a big heart. A fact many closest to him don't even know. Cole is much like his dad. One day Cole will see that clearly.

"Kat" Gracie's voice comes over the phone intercom "Ms. Malone's here."

I lean over kissing Cole swiftly on the cheek.

"I'll see you later."

I walk up to the young woman sitting in the lobby.

"Ms. Malone, Kat Roberts."

"Please call me Jenny" she stands to shake my hand.

"I'm Kat" I reply "Let's go into my office."

Jenny is nervous. I want to put her at ease. She wouldn't have come to Bruce if she had anything to do with the accounts being off so my guess is she is afraid of who is responsible.

"So explain to me what you have."

I watch as she pulls out a ledger book, a stack of spreadsheets and a jump drive.

"This is all the information on the accounts. I keep a handwritten back up of records even though everything is computerized today. That's how I first started noticing the problems"

She tells me Bruce is the only one besides her who knew about the hand ledgers. Once a quarter she double checked the spread sheets against the hand ledger. She has brought me spreadsheets and hand ledgers for the last year. She noted that there were discrepancies in this last quarters review and brought it to Bruce. Bruce had her gather the information and bring it to me. I have all I need to get my investigation started.

"Gracie."

"Yes."

"Can you order lunch for Jenny and I, we'll be working for a while?"

"Sure anything else?"

"Yes, ask my brother to meet with me some time after two today. Tell him name a time and place and I'll be there."

I begin s.h.i.+fting papers around my desk. I want us to have plenty of room to work.

"Sure thing."

"Jenny while I'm getting the records organized can you make me a list of all employees on and off the books for the gym."

"Sure" I notice her nerves are back.

"Don't worry Jenny I'm going to make sure you get protection."

"How'd you know I was scared?"

"I've been watching your body language. You're scared whoever is doing this is going to come after you. That's smart but trust me when I say I won't let it happen."

She picks up the notebook and pen I hand her and she begins making her list while I get the spreadsheets organized and begin looking over the top one with the corresponding ledger pages. It doesn't take me long to see the small discrepancies in the books. It will take some time to go over everything but I am going to get to the bottom of this.

Jenny hands me her list of employees. I stop and look over it and immediately two names jump out at me. I grab my cell and send off a text.

Kat: Get me all the information on these two men you can...

Hunter: I'm on it. Will let you know when I have it ready for you.

I love he doesn't even question my reasons for needing the information just gets to work.

I pick up the phone and dial Bruce's number.

"This is bigger than we thought. Jenny's going to need protection. Someone we can trust"

I tell him once he answers.

"I'll call Pete now, someone will be at your office in an hour."

"Thanks Bruce."

Gracie brings in lunch and Jenny begins walking me through the first few months of the ledger and spreadsheets where the problems began. As she points them out I note in a new spreadsheet on my laptop the differences. It's not long before the figures total a little over 50k in three months' time.

Cole comes in once while I'm working with Jenny. He gives me a quick kiss goodbye before heading out the door.

"Rocco's out front."

I nod my head acknowledging him. He wanted me to know that my bodyguard is there even though he is leaving.

A little while later Gracie phones me that Steve is here to see me. Bruce took me serious to send me one of the Circle. I excuse myself as I walk into the lobby. Steve and Rocco are talking to one another.

"Hey Kat," Steve greets me, "Pete said you needed me for a protection detail."

"Yes and Steve do everything you can to ease her mind she's scared, and she has reason to be."

I am keeping a lot of information to myself right now. The only people I will be discussing my suspicions with are my brother, my boyfriend and Bruce. This is not just someone skimming money but I'm sure that it has Sal Martin's hands all over it.

Steve follows me into my office I introduce him and Jenny to one another.

"Steve's going to be watching over you."

"Yea about that. We decided the best way not to draw too much attention to her having a guard is by me pretending to date her."

"Well that explains why Pete picked you. You were always dramatic back in high school" I smile warmly at Jenny "Will there be an issue for you to pretend like you're dating Steve?"

"No. I'm not currently dating anyone and I live alone so no one will question it."

"Good then that's settled you two run along get to know one another and get comfortable being around each other. Whatever it takes to keep you safe."

The two have to be believable or this won't work. This is life or death.

I watch as they both head out of my office.

Gracie comes in a bit later.

"Your bother said to tell you to meet in the usual place at five this evening."

"Thanks Gracie. I'm going to work on this until then. Try to keep my interruptions to a minimum please."

"Sure thing Kat. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you."

"I will," I say to her as she heads back to her desk.

I continue the rest of the afternoon recording all the discrepancies into my spreadsheet finally around four I have gone through each spreadsheet and corresponding ledger pages. In the morning, I will start looking over each individual item closely to determine where it was going and how it is getting there. For now, I save all my data to the secure private server Hunter set up for me. I send a quick email to Hunter letting him know that I sent information there that needs top security on it.

I get an email back a few minutes later with summaries of what he has found so far. But one name has several red flags by it now that this information has come to light. The name that's there blows my mind and will rock the Knight family to the core when it's revealed. I have the name of the traitor. Hunter doesn't even realize that's what he has given me.

I begin gathering up my belongings. I decide to take my laptop home with me tonight so that I can show Bruce and Cole everything I have found out. The time has come finally. The traitor and Sal Martin will be going down. This information is going to shake up the foundation of the Knight family and heads are going to roll. Tonight is not going to be pretty at home.

I send a text to Julie and Luke... Take Seth out tonight around six-do dinner. Movie whatever you can to keep him away from home please.

Julie replies first saying she would take care of it. I love how no one questions me today. If the roles were reversed, I'd be asking what the f.u.c.k is going on. I guess that's how I differ from the rest of my family and friends.

"Gracie go home and I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay Kat have a good night."

She watches me closely. I can see that her face is lined with concern. I wish I could tell her what was going on but sometimes it's better to be left in the dark.

Chapter 27.

Rocco has the car waiting out front for me. He escorts me into the bulletproof SUV Cole ordered for me. I give Rocco directions to where I am meeting Drew. I haven't been there in years. I remember the diner fondly though. It was the place that I met Cole for the first time. The little s.h.i.+t shack as I called it back in the day. I wondered if it still looked as shady as it did back in the day. It may have appeared shady, but it had the best d.a.m.n food ever. Not to mention the memories of meeting the love of my life.

Rocco pulls up in front of the diner and I'm not disappointed it looks the same. Cole should bring me here to propose that would be romantic. I can't even believe I just thought that. I should be p.i.s.sed at him for tricking me into marrying him but I am not. Secretly it warms me he wants to marry me that badly. I love that man.

"Stay in the car and guard my bag with your life."

I'm serious as I speak to Rocco. He lifts his eyebrows quizzically, but he doesn't say anything.

"Yes mam."