Chapter 5 - KHLOE’S DIVORCE WASN’T THE WHOLE PROBLEM
Lena called two days later.
“I found entries you need to see.”
Emma and Priya joined her in a conference room at the CPA firm.
Lena had reviewed eighteen months of Carter Renovation Group transactions.
The charges connected to Khloe totaled just under eighty-four thousand dollars.
Legal retainers.
Rent.
A vehicle payoff.
Credit-card payments.
Emma felt sick seeing the number together.
But Lena tapped another column.
“These are older.”
Payments to companies Emma recognized.
Material suppliers.
Subcontractors.
Equipment rental.
Nothing unusual at first glance.
Then Lena showed the corresponding invoices.
Several had been paid twice.
Some refunds had gone not to the company account, but to an owner-controlled account Robert used for distributions.
“What are you saying?” Emma asked.
“I’m saying the Khloe expenses are not the only reason your financial statements are messy.”
“How much?”
“I’m still calculating.”
Priya leaned forward.
“Who had authority over the owner distribution account?”
“Robert.”
Emma’s first reaction was denial.
Her father was passive.
Weak with Khloe, yes.
Afraid of Diane, sometimes.
But Robert was the one who taught Emma how to reconcile a bank statement when she was sixteen.
He used to call unrecorded expenses “little lies that grow legs.”
Lena continued.
“I also found that several of Khloe’s expenses were reclassified after you questioned them.”
“By whom?”
“The user ID belongs to Robert.”
Emma stared at the spreadsheet.
Diane’s words returned.
Her divorce matters more than your little drama.
Maybe Diane had not been asking Emma to protect only Khloe.
Maybe she had been trying to keep Emma focused on the loudest problem in the room.
Priya asked, “Does Robert have any major personal financial pressure?”
Emma shook her head.
“House is paid off. He and Mom have retirement accounts. The business was profitable until last year.”
“Until?”
“We lost two large renovation projects. Material costs went up. One client sued over delays.”
Lena nodded slowly.
“That matters.”
Emma looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because the duplicated reimbursements started around the same time.”
The possibility took shape unwillingly.
Not theft for luxury.
Cash movement.
Covering holes.
Making one account look healthy long enough to pay another.
“Could Dad have been trying to keep the company afloat?” Emma asked.
Lena chose her words carefully.
“He could have been moving money in ways that made the financial position look better than it was.”
Emma sat back.
Khloe’s divorce had been humiliating.
Expensive.
Chaotic.
Perfect cover.
Everyone already believed she was the irresponsible Carter daughter.
Emma realized something else.
At the staircase, Khloe had not screamed, Don’t expose my divorce.
She had screamed:
If you blow this up now, my divorce attorney gets every financial record.
Every.
May you like
Not hers.
The company’s.
