by Adrian Stark
I nodded, unable to think of anything else that would sum it up quite so well. Andrew Wright may be the world’s biggest prick, but he might have just saved my life. Charlie looked over at the rest of the groceries and sighed dramatically.
“I could have bought champagne!”
Chapter Four: Chapter 4 Title
“Well, you can’t go,” Chrissie said, slipping on her coat. I watched her from the couch, fuming. The past few days had been spent pooling all the resources we could think of. We’d found evidence that there were several court cases for ProviderLives; several of the victims' families had pressed charges, demanding payment for hospitals and recompensation for those they had lost. All of these court cases were dropped within a month of being filed.
I had no doubt bribery was involved, but there was no way to prove it. We needed numbers, contact information, or anything that would help Chrissie and I to solidify a case. His whole life, dad had never thrown away any work documents, no matter how old or irrelevant they were. If we could just get into his files long enough to find them, then maybe, maybe we stood a chance at setting things right.
The only problem was, I couldn't go anywhere near the building. A grown-ass man baring his son from his workplace.
“And he calls me childish,” I muttered angrily.
“He sent it out via email too…” Chrissie sat on the couch opposite me, finger flying across her keypad. She paused momentarily to look wearily at me over her phone. “At least we know where you get it from.” She was trying to make light of the situation, but we could both tell it wasn’t working. The sheer weight of what we had discovered and the board’s complete lack of support was getting to us.
My phone rang, and I jumped, glaring down at it as I reached forward to answer.
“Andrew, why did your father make a company-wide announcement that you aren’t ‘under any circumstances’ to be allowed into the building?” The voice was cheerful and teasing. I rubbed my temples with my free hand.
Hugo Moore was one of my oldest friends, if work colleagues, you didn’t want to throttle every time you saw them counted as a friend. He’d started at the company just after I took over, and we got pretty close. He was also one of the only people that never worked under my father. I was the only boss he’d known, and he actually treated me like one.
Chrissie tilted her head, and I mouthed “Hugo” at her. She raised her eyebrows, asking, silently, how much we wanted to tell him. Did we really want more people getting involved before we knew everything. Then again, he’s already at the office…
“Hey, Hugo—it seems I’ve been grounded.”
He scoffed, obviously finding the whole situation incredibly funny.
“How old are you, twelve?”
I put the phone down, tapping the loudspeaker button and leaning back on the couch with a grunt.
“Apparently. Think you can help?”
Hugo hesitated, and it crossed my mind that maybe he wouldn’t want to get involved. Hugo was one of our top executives. I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted nothing to do with this, but when he responded, his voice was low and mischievous.
“You want me to sneak you in?”
I let out a sigh of relief; he was in.
But he couldn’t sneak me in. There were too many people there that would call dad as soon as they spotted me. There had to be a stealthier way to approach this…
“No, that wouldn’t work.” I looked up, trying to think and ending up looking at Chrissie as she picked some dirt out from under her nails. Oh.
“Not me,” I said. “Chrissie.”
Chrissie’s head whipped up, and she stared at me in confusion. Hugo laughed gleefully.
“Chrissie’s there too? Hey Chris.”
Chrissie didn’t take her eyes off of me as she responded.
“Hi Hugo. Uh, Andrew why me?”
“I’m not allowed in,” I said firmly, “but you are. No one would care if you were there, especially if you were meeting Hugo.”
“Finally, I get to take Miss Wright out on a date,” Hugo contributed dryly.
“In your dreams, Moore.”
Hugo laughed heartily.
“So, you just wanna get into his office, yeah? What exactly are you looking for?” I debated whether to tell him. I trusted Hugo, much more than any of the other pricks at work. If there was a chance to fix what dad had done, Chrissie and I could use all the help we could get. I looked up at Chrissie—she had to be okay with this too—it was her father too after all. She nodded back at me with an encouraging smile, already standing to put on her coat.
I turned back to the phone.
“We need to find information on a group of workers that died in the last two years. Chrissie and I have some of it, but we need to fill the gaps. I’m hoping dad kept some old files.”
There was silence for a few moments. I thought for a moment that Hugo might have hung up on me, but as I leaned forward to check, I heard him swallow nervously.
“I knew that bastard was up to no good—no offense, guys.”
I dropped my head into my hands, relieved that someone besides me and Chrissie could see how fucking awful this was.
“None taken,” Chrissie and I responded in unison.
“I’ll meet Chris out front in fifteen.”
Chrissie waved goodbye, scooping her own phone off of the kitchen counter as she went to the door. Once it closed behind her, I let out a long sigh.
“You okay?” I picked up the phone, turning off the loudspeaker and putting it up to my ear.
“Honestly, I have no idea. This is some deep shit I’m clawing my way out of here, Hugo. I know I’m doing the right thing, but… I hope it is, you know?”
“Hey. You are. If this is as big as you’re saying it is, if people have died, then you are absolutely doing the right thing, okay?” Hugo was usually the first to make light of a situation, throwing jokes at the problem until it went away. Hearing the sincerity in his voice made me feel a whole lot better.
“Thank you, Hugo.”
“Anytime. We’ll message you when we find them.”
Chapter Five: Chapter 5 Title
When I opened my eyes, everything was dark. I tried to move, but my limbs wouldn’t obey; I could feel the air weighing me down. I opened my mouth, and the darkness trickled down my throat, wrapping around my insides, turning me numb.
“Josie?” I blinked, and the world swam back into view. My stomach churned at the smell of disinfectant. Up ahead, a light flashed—one of those huge lamps doctors use in surgery, and as I walked closer, a bed materialized out of nowhere.
There was someone in it, but I couldn’t see who it was, the blankets covered everything but their hands, which raised off the bed toward me. They were gnarled like tree trunks and pale. They shook terribly, and I choked on a sob. I knew these hands.
“Josie?” It was his voice, weak and trembling. I rushed to him, pushing my way through the still air like I was swimming. I gripped his hands in mine, flinching at how cold they were.
“Dad?”
The blankets dropped away, and my father shivered at the cold. He was like a skeleton with wax paper draped around it. His chest rattled as he breathed. I could see lumps in his throat— pills lodged under his skin. His eyes were closed.
“Dad ?” Watery eyes blinked slowly open, and I couldn’t stop the tears.“Dad, it’s me. It’s Josie.”
“It hurts.”
“I know. Dad, I’m so sorry I—oh god, I’m sorry.” His face was blurry through my tears, and I gripped his hands tighter, scared he was going to fade away again.
“How could they do this to me?” He sounded so heartbroken, so tiny and helpless.
“I don’t know, Duke.” I flinched at the sound of Michael’s voice. What was he doing here? “They’re an evil company run by an evil man.” Michael’s voice got louder as he got closer to the bed, and I tried to turn, tried to speak, but it was like I was frozen to the spot. A spark of cold air blew thr
ough me, and I looked down at dad’s hands. They were still there, but I couldn’t feel anything. “And as for Josephine...” Michael appeared beside me, hands reaching out to clasp my dad’s, my fingers easily slipping from his grasp even as I clung tighter. “...jumping into bed with him like that. I’m sorry she betrayed you like that.”
No. It wasn’t like that! I didn’t know! The light flickered and went out, plunging me back into darkness. I wasn’t sure how I could still see them, Michael looming over dad like an angel of death. It was like he omitted a light, a dull glow that illuminated my surroundings.
“She’s killing me, Michael.” Dad’s voice was fading, getting smaller and smaller, so small I had to lean in to hear him. “I can feel it. I’ll be gone soon.”
“Dad...” My heart was breaking. I could feel it cracking in my chest like someone was chipping at it with an ice pick.“...please don’t say that. I didn’t know—I swear I didn’t know don’t leave me.”
Neither of them answered me—they didn’t even look.
“Don’t worry, Duke.” Michael’s saccharine voice sent shivers down my spine. “I’ll look after Josephine for you.”
“No!” Light rushed into my vision, and I was in my room. My heart was still racing, and I closed my eyes, trying to calm my breathing.
Even after a week back in my old house, I still felt uneasy. There were so many memories here. Not all of them good.
I’d moved out the second I could, anxious to give Monica and Charlie their house back. I knew, deep down, that I wasn’t ready to be on my own. The more time I had to myself, the more I could feel everything creeping up on me. Michael was gone, sure, but I could still feel his hands on me… in me. Hot tears trickled down my face. I rolled over, trying to make myself as small as possible, breaths coming in short, painful gasps that pulled at my insides.
I’m a failure. Why can’t I handle anything on my own? I needed Michael to take me away. I needed Dad to pick up the pieces. I needed Charlie to give me somewhere to stay, food to eat. And Andrew.
I needed Andrew so badly it hurt. It didn’t matter what he’d done; it didn’t matter how he’d ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped on it. I couldn’t forget about him; the way he smelled and the way he held me was ingrained in my bones and unshakable.
My vision was going blurry at the edges. I’m not getting enough oxygen. I need help. I need Andrew. No. Fine, Charlie then.
I watched, detached, as one of my hands snaked out from the blankets and gripped my phone. I brought it, trembling, to my ear, and dialed Charlie’s number.
“Josie?” Her voice was thick with sleep, and I almost hung up. I sobbed, half choking on air and tears. “Josie?”
“Help.” It was barely a word, but Charlie understood immediately.
“It’s okay, sweetie, you just gotta breath, remember? Big breaths. In…and out...and in…. And out...” I struggled to do as she said, taking heaving breaths in and shuddering out an exhale. Charlie didn’t let up for what felt like hours and, eventually, I could feel myself calming down.
“I think—I think I’m okay,” I managed to whisper into the phone.
“Okay, love; what happened?”
“I had a nightmare and—and then I just couldn’t stop thinking about everything. I really let everyone down…”
There was a rustling on the phone, and I imagined her sneaking out of bed and into the corridor, so she didn’t wake Monica.
“What makes you say that?”
I don’t deserve to be here. I didn’t want to say it; part of me thought that saying it would make it true and not just something my overly anxious mind had made up.
“You know what I mean.”
“No. I don—”
But Charlie might understand. She always knew what to say when I was like this. I didn’t deserve her. I never had.
“What would dad think of Andrew and me, Charlie?” It felt like a weight had been lifted off of me, just saying the words out loud. “After Michael, I’d promised myself I wouldn't get close to people again—not if it just meant they’d leave me again. And then my dad died. Worse than that, he spent months dying slowly with no remission in sight, and then I fell in love with the man responsible? I’m just a scared little girl too afraid of being on her own that she jumped into bed with the first guy that showed her a lick of attention.” I took another jittering breath, feeling myself start to lose it again. “And the worst part is that I-I still love him.” I curled up tighter, wanting to block out everything. “I still love him, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Here’s what we’re going to do.” Charlie’s voice never rose above a comforting murmur, but I could still hear how much I must have frightened her. “Starting tomorrow, I’m coming to live with you. You need help with the renovations anyway. I’m on my way there right now.”
“But it's so late. It’s...” I pulled the phone away from my head to check. “...it’s two-thirty in the morning.”
“As if I care. You need me. I’m coming. You don’t really wanna be alone in the house right now, do you?”
I thought of the ghost of Michael’s fingers on my thighs, the look on Andrew’s face when I hit him. I couldn’t help the whimper that escaped my mouth.
“No...I don’t.”
“Well then...” Charlie replied with forced enthusiasm. “...you got the TV up and running yet?”
“Mhmm.”
“Excellent. I’m bringing champagne and popcorn. We need Darcy, and we need Elizabeth, and we need them now.”
Chapter Six: Chapter 6 Title
Paperwork littered the apartment like snow. Hugo was passed out on the couch, the laptop still open on the table in front of him, and a highlighter clutched in his hand as he snored softly.
The ever growing list of ProviderLives workers affected had finally stopped at fifteen. Fifteen people were suffering from Cancer, wasting away without any financial support and buried under layers of corporal bullshit.
When I first found out about all this, it was hard to accept. My father was a hard man to love sometimes, sure. He was an angry, work-obsessed man that was ridiculously hard to please. But I never thought he was corrupt, never thought he could stoop so low as to abandon his workers when they needed him the most. I looked around my apartment, at the paperwork listing fifteen people struck down with the same disease within two months, at the financial records on my laptop with glaring errors I hadn’t even managed to get my head around yet, and to my sister on the other side of the room who looked every bit as downtrodden and betrayed as I felt.
There’s no way he’s getting away with it this time.
I checked the time at the corner of my screen. It was almost midnight; we’d been sitting in the same positions for nearly six hours. It’d been the same for the past four days, but it seemed the more we looked, the more we found. I’d discovered the financial records for the year ProviderLives went under, and it had taken days to figure out which funds were going where and when. It felt like I was in one of those old cop shows Chrissie, and I used to be obsessed with; all we were missing was a perspex board covered in suspect mugshots and some red string to connect them with.
From my spot leaning against the couch, I reached up to prod at Hugo’s bare ankle. He’d come straight from work, bringing takeout that had drawn Chrissie and I out from our rooms and into the living room to eat before going back to work. Hugo had shaken his head, eaten two slices, and promptly passed out. It was hard to be irritated by him, though.
Ever since he’d turned up with Chrissie that first day, Hugo had made himself a sort of undercover double agent, making endless trips to and from dad’s offices, picking up anything we asked.
It took nearly a whole minute to wake him up. He sat drowsily, swatting at my hand and closing his laptop with a yawn.
“How long was I out?”
“At least an hour and a half,” came Chrissie’s reply, eyes not moving from the screen in front of her.
“Well, th
at’s my cue to call it a day, I think.” Hugo climbed to his feet, reaching up to re-tighten his tie and fiddle with the cuffs of his shirt.
“Thanks again, Hugo,” I said tiredly, eyes already drifting back to my own screen.“We really owe you one for all this.”
The financial records were doing my head in. There were so many discrepancies—there was no way that at least someone from accounting wasn’t in on all this…there. Fifty thousand dollars transferred to an “unknown account” in the middle of the financial year with no reference and no contact. Gotcha. I scrabbled to do the sums in my head. Fifty thousand plus added to the other amounts I’ve found made...over five hundred thousand dollars worth of money gone, with no evidence of where it went.
Dad spent nearly half a million dollars, keeping this quiet. And that’s just what I’ve managed to find so far.
I looked up, filled with urgency. This changes everything. Trent Wright wasn’t just looking out for the company now—ignoring pleas in order to preserve Wright Industries—he was committing outright embezzlement. This was what we needed to put him away. All those years not caring a cent whether his workers lived or died. The lives he ruined with his greed. Finally, we had a way to end it. I had to tell Chrissie.
I looked up. Hugo was shrugging on his suit jacket and making his way slowly toward the door.
“You don’t owe me a thing. Well, I did buy the pizza so you get the next take out and we’ll call it even, okay?”
I gave a dismissive half-smile, anxious for him to leave. This wasn’t something I wanted to tell anyone but Chrissie for now.
“Will do.”
The door swung shut behind him, and I was next to Chrissie in an instant, thrusting my laptop under her nose excitedly.
“Look at this! Nearly five hundred thousand dollars sent out to “unknown accounts” in the past few years. He’s embezzling, Chrissie; this is exactly what we need to bring him down!”
