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“How much are we talking?” Grey asked.
Veronica grimaced but held eye contact. Props to her. “We’ve identified $2.5 million so far.”
Rage warmed my skin until I thought I would set something on fire.
That piece of shit. I was going to kill him.
“I want him out,” I snarled. “Find whoever the hell his puppet is and burn him out. The organization is one thing, but my nonprofit is not a fucking playground.”
“Do we have any idea who it is?” Dominic asked. He ran his thumb across my thigh, but I could barely feel it. I couldn’t focus on anything beyond the need to destroy Cash.
Fucking with me was annoying, but tolerable. Fucking with my organization was idiotic, but par for the course. Fucking with my brother’s memory. My family. Innocents. That was a death sentence I’d gladly carry out.
Tennessee stepped forward. “Ronnie called last week, and with Grey’s permission, we did some digging into payroll. We think we have a potential list of accomplices. These are people making way too much, considering what they do, and those who had a major pay increase for no reason. We also checked anyone who saved more than they should have.”
“It’s not perfect, and it’s definitely not a guarantee, but here’s the list.” Ronnie changed the screen, and I got my first look at the potential traitors in our midst.
The list held almost a dozen names, and that was the low side of things. The likelihood was that there were twice as many, and the others were just much better at hiding their tracks. The only positive was none of my officers seemed to be on it, and I knew Tennessee and Ronnie. Both would have insisted we look all the way up the hierarchy.
I also wasn’t surprised Joaquin wasn’t on the list. He wasn’t out to take my seat for money. He wanted the prestige and the power that went with it.
Checking the list, I found Ronnie, our ever-organized auditor, had made sure to separate everyone based on where they worked, so it was easy to find the dockmaster’s men. Out of everyone, Micah was the only one who had two employees on the list.
I pointed to their names. “Tell me about those two.”
“They’re Micah’s men, both lifers. Their families have been with us since before your father was even around. Very old-school, the whole lot of them.”
Which meant the likelihood that they didn’t appreciate a female Marcosa running things was high. At the very least, they’d be easily manipulated because of their biases. “Why are they on the list?”
“They made double what they should have made last year with no additional jobs, no Social Security, no inheritances, no lottery earnings. They just made double. It didn’t make any sense.”
“We didn’t pay them extra?” I asked, reaching for the payroll logs.
Tennessee answered without looking at the notes. “No, and they didn’t get the money as commissions. They’re strictly freight guys.”
“We had to dig into offshore bank accounts to find the money,” Ronnie said.
The fact that our employees had offshore accounts wasn’t uncommon, considering the line of work we were in. Offshore bank accounts made it less likely for their accounts to be frozen if they happened to get caught up in any charges, especially if they were secret or under a fake name. At least that way, their money would be safe, and they could take care of their family should the worst happen. Greyson and I each had ten total and recommended our people have at least three each. But they were required to give us the information for exactly this reason. Auditing was easier if you didn’t have to do much digging.
“Both of them have at least two additional offshore accounts they didn’t let us know about.”
“Easier places to funnel and hide money,” Grey mused. “What do you want to do, reina?”
I looked over the list again and hated every second of it. At least one person in every one of my clubs. Two board members of my nonprofit. Cash was everywhere, and we needed to hit back at him.
I pulled out my phone and made a call to the dockmaster. Thankfully, Micah picked up immediately.
“Mari.” He was wary. Good, he should’ve been.
“The audit’s back, and I have two of your men’s names on the naughty list. I need to know which one of them is more likely to crack under pressure.” I listed the names, and he cursed loud and long.
“I didn’t know.”
I had no doubt about that. Micah would’ve brought me their bodies if he had. “I know you’re loyal, but you’ll still need to replace them and re-vet every other one of your men. Tennessee has already started, but I expect you to have a more hands-on approach. If you need help, send them to me.”
Obviously, my people thought I was getting soft in times of peace. That had to change.
“That’s a gracious offer.” Micah didn’t take it, though I knew he would if he had to. He preferred to police his own team. “If you’re looking for which one I think will crack, Derek is probably your best bet. He’s a good kid, great at his job, but he doesn’t quite have the strong disposition Jacob has. He’s also younger, which will help here.”
