Page 202

Yonas rubbed both hands down his face, dragging his fingers through his beard before leaning forward and staring at the carpet between his feet.

He stayed quiet for several long seconds, gathering his thoughts, before he finally lifted his head and met my eyes.

He rubbed a hand over his face, staying quiet long enough for the concern in my chest to deepen. When he finally spoke, his voice was lower than before.

“My job is in jeopardy.”

I blinked, completely stunned. “What?”

“My position at the firm,” he clarified. “I had to step away from it, and right now, I don’t know if I’m gonna have a job to go back to when all this shit is over.”

For a second, the words didn’t even make sense in my head.

Yonas had always been involved in various real estate developments and private investments, but his primary position was as a senior executive for a massive regional investment and development firm. He had been with the company for years, made damn good money, and had built an untouchable reputation in the industry for being sharp, calculated, and completely on top of his business. The last time we’d talked about work before I moved back to Hallowridge, he had been negotiating another multi-million-dollar land acquisition.

“What happened?” I asked, leaning closer. “How did things get that bad?”

He leaned his head back against the cushion, staring up at the coffered ceiling with a bitter expression. “Some shit came up with the firm.”

“What kind of shit?”

“Legal shit,” he muttered, his jaw clenching tight. “One of the commercial divisions I was overseeing got caught up in some serious financial misconduct. Money was being moved between accounts without proper authorization, contracts weren’t matching the actual disbursements, and now state regulators and corporate auditors are tearing the place apart. Everybody who had anything to do with that division is getting questioned.”

My eyebrows shot straight up. “Everybody? Including you?”

He nodded grimly. “Unfortunately.”

“Damn, Yonas.”

“Yeah.” He let out a dry breath. “They’re looking into everybody who approved transactions, signed off on wire transfers, or had direct access to the project accounts.”

“And you did?”

“Some of them, yeah,” he admitted, turning his attention toward the large windows. “Look, Lakelyn, I wasn’t sitting behind a desk knowingly stealing money or cooking books. You know me. That’s not how I move. But my signature is on executive paperwork, and now my personal attorneys have to comb through thousands of pages of records just to prove what I knew and what was done behind my back.”

“Your attorneys?” I repeated, catching the plural. “How bad is this really?”

He let out a short, humorless laugh. “Bad enough that I’ve already burned through a few hundred thousand dollars just on retainers and forensic accountants.”

My mouth fell open. “A few hundred thousand?”

“Yup.” He rubbed his jaw. “And that’s just what I’ve paid upfront. I don’t even wanna think about what the final legal bill is gonna look like by the time they clear my name.”

“Damn.”

“Exactly.”

“So what happened with your position at the company?”

“I stepped down while the internal and external reviews are pending,” he explained, his voice laced with disgust. “It was the smartest move for me and the firm while everybody sorts through this shit. Technically, I haven’t been fired, but I’m not sitting in my office collecting a salary either. And nobody can promise me there will still be a position waiting for me once this is over.”

I frowned. “Even if they prove you didn’t do anything?”

“That’s the fucked-up part.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms against his thighs. “You can clear somebody legally and still ruin their name professionally. Companies don’t like scandal attached to executives, even when the executive didn’t cause the damn scandal.”

“Wow,” I whispered, shaking my head as the reality of his situation set in. “I can’t believe that.”

“Yeah. Neither could I.”