AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Erez thinks Nurit has been inflating the numbers. Keeping on clients, as if they’re still paying us for their subscription. You’re the CEO of a startup. Does it make sense? Could Nurit really pull this off?”
Avigail’s dark head shook decisively.
“Your CEO must be in on it. The CFO never runs these things alone.”
Menni was in on it, of course! It made sense. Menni held 15% of Kisharti. He was the guy who ran the presentations for the investors and was involved in preparing them. He had much more motive than Nurit, who was just a hired employee.
“Confront her tomorrow, see what she says,” Avigail said. “Erez gave you time.”
She was too tired and aching to think of another plan. She would drive to Nurit’s to figure out what was going on and think of what to do.
“What about Erez?” Avigail asked. “Does the tattoo have anything to do with him? It’s beautiful.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Dafna was utterly exhausted and aching all over. It had been a very long day.
“Fine. Let’s drink wine. What do you want to watch: Legally Blonde or Mamma Mia?”
They didn’t talk of scams or startups, or husbands, for the rest of the night. They finished the bottle and watched Meryl Streep jump into the Mediterranean, and fell asleep together in the enormous honeymoon bed.
Chapter 36
Give Me Two Weeks
After the breakfast she shared with Avigail, Dafna bought an overpriced T-shirt and pants in the shop’s store, since the dress she packed revealed the fresh tattoo. She had no bra on – the straps hurt the inflamed skin.
“Talk to your husband. Maybe there’s an innocent explanation.”
“Maybe.” Avigail hugged her. “Confront your CFO. Learn the truth, and talk to me if you need anything! And take care of the tattoo, it looks painful.”
She phoned Nurit, who was shopping at Dizengoff Center. They met in Butti, a hip café in Dizengoff Square. At any other time, Dafna would have enjoyed the sunny peaceful circle, with the colorful water fountain in its center, and the strolling Friday commuters around.
“Are you okay?” Nurit asked. “You look…so sad.”
“Nurit!” she spat out, making Nurit jump. She had neither time nor the restraint for niceties. “Are you running a subscription scam?”
Nurit’s eyes widened and immediately filled with fear. It was true then, Nurit was corrupt.
“Erez somehow found out?” she asked.
“Yes,” she answered. “FemGen, OptiTraff, Mindblo, and several more. What is going on? Why are you doing this?”
“Me? Why am I doing it?” Nurit’s breaths were quick and agitated. “Why do you think?”
Nurit started crying. Big fat tears that rolled unchecked. She took out a tissue pack from her purse and gave it to Nurit, who blew her nose.
“I know. It’s not like you, but please tell me how we got here.” Dafna had calmed down many employees over the years.
“Menni asked me to,” Nurit started and paused. Dafna kept quiet, and Nurit filled the silence. “He came to me four months ago, after I asked for a pay raise. My son, he’s so talented, he got accepted to Maccabi Ramat Hasharon football club. His coach says he can make it to be a pro, and that’s all he wants. But it all costs money: driving him to his matches, uniforms, gym membership… Menni refused. He said that there was no money, that our burn rate was too fast, that if we don’t get money from investors, the company will close. I knew all that from the numbers. He said he has an investor lined up, Motti, who had already put money in, and believed in us. If I ‘help’ the numbers, just a little every month, we could bring in additional money, friends of Motti’s, at the end of this quarter. And then I will get my raise. Straight away, to show me he meant business, he gave me a seat at management and a promise for the CFO position when we get the investment.”
Nurit was long due to get all those things. Besides being a cheat, Menni was an asshole.
“That’s all?”
“That’s it. I was super anxious because of the due diligence.”
“Are there real books?” Dafna asked.
“Yes. On a separate laptop. It’s locked in Menni’s office. I update it at the end of each workweek, that way we’ll have the real numbers if we need them–you know, if the investment doesn’t come through, so we know where we stand. It’s funny, I’ve been working with fake numbers for so long that I got used to them. Menni only looks at them. He doesn’t even want to see the actual books.”
