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“And Noelia? Tell them to get comfortable, because I’m in a meeting and can’t be interrupted. Send Henry in.”
When I interned at Huntsman Industries, more than a decade ago, Henry worked for Antonio, or more specifically, he worked for Antonio’s bookkeeper. He walked me through balance sheets and every financial statement with the patience of Job. I learned more about financial accounting from him than I learned in graduate school. When I took over Premier, I convinced Antonio to let him come work for me, as Premier’s bookkeeper, and he’s been here ever since.
There’s a knock on the open door, and I close my laptop.
“Henry.” I stand to shake his hand. He’s in his early forties. A proud man whose appearance is painstakingly exact, like his calculations. “It’s nice to see you.”
Henry doesn’t pop in often. When he does, it’s normally to verify some expenditure that he could as easily email me about. But he hates paper trails. I do, too, but I also hate meetings that don’t need to happen.
“What’s going on?” I ask, motioning for him to take a seat.
“I’m not sure.” He clears his throat. “There are eight thousand and thirty-seven euros that seem to be unaccounted for in the main account. I ... I was wondering if perhaps you made an off-the-books purchase that I didn’t know about.”
“From Premier?”
He nods.
“No. Have you ever known me to withdraw money like that?”
“I’ve never known you to do that. Ever.” He sits up straighter, like he has something important to say and wants me to take notice. “But we’re stretched a bit thin with the launch about to begin, and tracing small sums of money in a multimillion-dollar enterprise is sometimes more time-consuming than tracing larger amounts. Not that eight thousand and thirty-seven missing euros is a small thing.” He waves his hand. “I thought it made sense to check with you before we headed down that rabbit hole.”
Premier is my company—and Valentina’s. I draw a generous salary, and investments and benefits are worked out through the CFO’s office and human resources, but otherwise I don’t dip into the coffers for anything. Not even petty cash if I left my wallet at home and I’m taking an investor to lunch. Not my style.
“Look into it, if you want, but don’t sweat it. I appreciate that you like to account for every cent, but eight thousand euros is nothing for a company our size. Don’t spend time that could be better spent elsewhere chasing chump change.”
I don’t mean to be flippant, because it’s not exactly chump change, but I need Henry to focus on the launch. After that’s over, he can spend days chasing eight euros, if that makes him happy.
“It’s a matter of pride, Rafael. I don’t sleep well unless my books reconcile.”
He pauses and clears his throat again. Our conversations are always stilted. I’m a big-picture, think-outside-of-the-box kind of guy, and Henry loves the safety of the box.
“Would you mind if I checked with Valentina when she’s back from her trip? Perhaps that’s where the discrepancy lies.”
“You don’t need my permission to talk to Valentina, but I doubt she knows anything about the missing money.” Valentina is as careful as I am, but let him ask so he can put the issue to bed.
“I agree. She’s as meticulous as you are about keeping personal and business expenditures separate. Don’t worry,” he says, “I’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Not worried. Just need you to leave so I can tell those fuckers in my conference room to get the hell out of my building so I can get back to work.
I stand, signaling the end of the meeting. “Don’t spend too much more time on it. There’s a lot to do on the US launch. But let me know if you figure it out.”
Not that I actually give a damn about a few thousand euros.
16
ALEXIS
When I wake, the bedroom door is closed and there’s a note with my phone on the nightstand. As much as I’ve missed having my phone, I reach for the note first.
The floral stationery dotted with chicken scratch that’s decidedly male makes me smile. But like everything else with Rafael, I’m sure the small pleasure will be short-lived.
Good morning,
Your phone is clean and safe to use. Your father heard about what happened last night. He’s worried. If you don’t want to speak to him, call your mother. Also, draft a statement for the authorities, then email it to me so I can have my lawyer look it over before we send it off. They also need to see your passport. Give it to one of the guards, and we’ll make copies. I’m not handing over the original. You need to hang out in the apartment until we have more information about the traffickers and any danger they might pose to you. Let’s meet for dinner and finish our conversation from last night.
In the meantime, stay out of trouble.
RH
