The voice behind her made her jump. Susan was standing at the entrance to the office. Her face was white with rage.
“I… I came in early. I wanted to finish a report.”
“At six in the morning?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
Her mother-in-law slowly walked up to her, stopping a few feet away.
“I know what you’re doing,” she hissed. “You think I don’t see? Don’t understand?”
“Susan, I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
“Stop lying!” She grabbed Ellie’s arm, squeezing it painfully. “You’re meddling in things that are none of your business, and you’ll regret it very soon.”
“Let go of me.”
“Or what? You’ll run and tell your husband?” Her mother-in-law sneered. “He won’t believe you. Never. I’m his mother, and you’re a nobody. A nobody.”
Ellie pulled her arm away.
“We’ll see about that.”
She grabbed her bag and ran out of the office. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would burst out of her chest. Now she had proof. Real, irrefutable proof. All that was left was to decide what to do with it.
“Are you sure this is safe?” Kate looked at the laptop screen with disbelief.
“Absolutely. The file is on a shared server. Any employee in the accounting department has access to it.”
“But your mother-in-law knows you were digging?”
“Yes,” Ellie nodded. “That’s why I have to act fast, before she has a chance to destroy the evidence.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to the CEO. I’ll show him everything. The spreadsheet, the transfers to Samuels, the camera footage. Let him decide.”
Kate was silent for a moment.
“What about Mike?”
Ellie looked down.
“He… he said he wanted to know the truth. Well, now he’ll know.”
“Ellie, this is his mother. If she goes to prison…”
“She stole millions, Kate. Millions. That’s the company’s money, the employees’ money. Because of her, maybe someone didn’t get a bonus or a raise. Because of her, the company could have gone bankrupt.”
“I understand, but…”
“No buts!” Ellie looked her friend in the eye. “I can’t stay silent. I can’t pretend I don’t know anything. That would be a betrayal not just of the company, but of myself.”
Kate slowly nodded.
“Alright, then I’m going with you.”
“Why?”
“For moral support. And as a witness. Just in case.”
Mr. Henderson saw them at the end of the workday. Ellie laid everything out for him—printouts of the spreadsheet, screenshots of the transfers, information about Samuels, the security camera footage. The CEO looked, flipped through the pages, and frowned. His expression grew darker and darker.
“Two and a half million dollars,” he repeated when Ellie finished. “In three years.”
“That’s just what I found. There might be more.”
“And you’re claiming Susan was behind all of this?”
“The documents speak for themselves.”
Mr. Henderson leaned back in his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Eleanor, do you understand that this is a serious accusation?”
“I do.”
“And that it affects not just the business, but your family as well?”
“I do.”
“Are you prepared for the consequences?”
Ellie met his gaze.
“I’m prepared for the truth, whatever it may be.”
The CEO was silent for a long time, then slowly gathered the documents into a folder.
“I need time to verify all this, to consult with our lawyers.”
“How much time?”
“A day, maybe two.”
“Not a word to anyone until then. Especially not to Susan. Do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
“And…” He hesitated. “Be careful. Just in case.”
Mike was waiting for her at home. He was sitting in the kitchen, a cup of cold coffee in front of him. His face was pale and drawn.
“Hi,” Ellie said as she walked in.
“Hi.”
She sat across from him, her hands on the table.
“Did you want to say something?”
Mike looked up at her. There was a deep pain in his eyes that made Ellie’s heart ache.
“I found it,” he said quietly.
“Found what?”
“Proof. That you were telling the truth.”
She froze.
“How?”
“I called Samuels, the actor. I told him I was a journalist writing an article about scams. He opened up. Told me about the job, how he was hired by a woman from a construction company for a few thousand dollars.”
“Mike, wait, there’s more.”
He took out his phone and showed her a recording.
“I recorded our conversation. He confirmed everything.”
Ellie listened to the recording with a pounding heart. Samuels’ voice, hoarse and self-assured, described how a woman in her fifties, very bossy, had contacted him and explained the task: scare the daughter-in-law, take compromising photos. How she paid him in cash. “I was told not to touch her,” the actor said, “just go in, take the pictures, create the appearance of something. She said the husband was a fool, he’d believe it.”
The recording ended.
“Mike…” Ellie didn’t know what to say.
“I…” He closed his eyes. “I didn’t want to believe it, you understand? She’s my mother. I couldn’t, I didn’t want to, I know. But you were right, you were right about everything. And I… I acted like a complete idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot, you just loved your mother. But love doesn’t excuse blindness.”
He opened his eyes, and Ellie saw tears in them.
“Forgive me, Ellie. Forgive me for not believing you, for doubting you, for letting her hurt you. I should have protected you, I should have been on your side. Instead…” He trailed off.
Ellie stood up, walked around the table, and hugged him. He clung to her, and she felt his shoulders shake.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, “we’ll get through this. Together.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
They stood there for a long time, holding each other in the middle of the kitchen, in a silence broken only by their breathing. And for the first time in weeks, Ellie felt that everything really would be okay. But she didn’t yet know that the hardest part was still to come.
The next morning, the CEO called.
“Eleanor, come to my office. Immediately.”
She arrived at the office half an hour later. Two men in suits, strangers, were already sitting in the reception area.
“Go on in,” the secretary said, pointing to the door.
In the office, besides Mr. Henderson, there were three other people. The two men from the reception area and a middle-aged woman in a severe suit.
“Meet,” the CEO said, “the investigators from the economic crimes division. They’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“Me?”
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