The Price of a Perfect Marriage and the Silent Rebuild of My Worth
“Who was with him?” Arthur asked.
“Lila Parker,” I said.
Arthur’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“The marketing intern?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “He approved her travel as a business expense under the guise of client research.”
I flipped the page to show the credit card statements.
“Here are the charges for five-star hotels,” I said. “And expensive dinners. All charged to the firm’s discretionary entertainment fund.”
Arthur picked up the sheets, his fingers tracing the numbers.
He did not speak for a long moment.
“This is a violation of our internal compliance policy,” Arthur said, his voice flat.
“It is,” I said. “But there is more.”
I flipped to the third section of the folder.
“Ethan approved three separate bonuses for Lila Parker over the last year,” I said.
“Interns are not eligible for discretionary bonuses,” Arthur said, his tone sharpening.
“He bypassed the standard HR channel,” I said. “He signed off on them directly as emergency consulting fees.”
I showed him the copies of the wire transfers.
“He used the Lawson Vance client development fund,” I said.
Arthur stared at the signatures at the bottom of the document.