Chapter 5 - The First AuditThe honeymoon phase of my new corporate career lasted precisely forty-eight hours.
By Wednesday morning, the quiet hostility of the boardroom had transformed into a cold, bureaucratic guerrilla war. Senior executives accustomed to rubber-stamping their own pet projects and skimming administrative overhead found themselves facing rigorous, line-by-line forensic audits led by a twenty-four-year-old former waitress who refused to be intimidated by fancy titles or intimidating stares.
I sat at my glass-top desk on the sixty-seventh floor, surrounded by towering stacks of financial ledgers, audit reports, and grant proposals. My eyes burned from lack of sleep, but my mind was sharper than it had ever been.
The door to my office swung open without a knock.
Catherine Sterling strode into the room, her designer heels clicking sharply against the polished concrete floor. Her face was flushed with poorly concealed anger, and she slammed a thick manila folder down onto my desk, scattering several loose papers across my keyboard.
“This is completely unacceptable,” Catherine snapped, crossing her arms and glaring down at me.
I leaned back in my ergonomic leather chair, picked up my pen, and calmly placed it across my notepad. I looked up at her with a steady, unblinking gaze.
“Good morning to you too, Catherine,” I said evenly. “What seems to be unacceptable?”
“Your preliminary audit report on the Inner-City Youth Initiative,” she said, her voice rising in pitch. “You flagged three hundred thousand dollars in administrative consulting fees allocated to Apex Media Group and demanded a full accounting of services rendered. Do you have any idea whose firm that is?”
“I know it’s a shell corporation registered in Delaware with no physical office address, no staff, and no verifiable output,” I replied, opening my tablet and pulling up the digital ledger. “I also know that every single dollar routed through Apex Media Group happens to trace directly back to a consulting contract held by your brother-in-law.”
Catherine’s breath caught in her throat. The arrogant color in her cheeks instantly drained, replaced by a flash of genuine panic.
“That is a reckless, defamatory accusation!” she hissed, leaning over my desk and pointing a manicured finger in my face. “You are a child playing dress-up in an executive suite! You have no idea how corporate politics work in this city! If you push this audit forward, I will personally ensure that the board votes to terminate your contract by the end of the week. I will ruin your reputation so thoroughly you won't even be able to get a job cleaning floors!”
I didn't flinch. I didn't raise my voice. I simply smiled—a calm, ice-cold smile that I had apparently learned by osmosis from working around Lorenzo.
“You’re welcome to try, Catherine,” I said softly. “In fact, why wait until the end of the week? Let’s take it to Mr. Moretti right now.”
At the mention of his name, Catherine physically recoiled, her hand dropping back to her side. For all her corporate posturing and boardroom bravado, the mere thought of facing Lorenzo’s glacial wrath terrified her down to her bones.
“You’re making a massive mistake, Maya,” Catherine snarled, her voice dropping to a venomous whisper. “You think Lorenzo protects you? You’re just a novelty to him—a stray cat he brought home to spite high society. When he gets bored of you, you’ll find out just how fast the wolves turn on their own.”
She turned on her heel, storming out of the office and slamming the heavy glass door so hard the frame rattled in its tracks.
I let out a long, shaky breath, sinking back into my chair. My hands were trembling slightly. Catherine was right about one thing: I was an outsider in a world governed by ruthless sharks.
Before I could collect my thoughts, my office intercom chimed softly.
May you like
“Maya. My office. Now,” Lorenzo’s deep baritone crackled through the speaker.
I stood up, smoothed down the skirt of my navy blue business suit, and walked down the short corridor toward the executive corner office, wondering if the first major storm of my new career was about to break.
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