Chapter 7 - Exposing the Fraud
By midnight, the rest of the floor was pitch black except for the glow of my monitor. I carried my finalized audit report straight to Julian’s executive office on the top floor. He was still working shirt-sleeved at his desk, looking through quarterly projections. When I placed my findings in front of him, detailing how the acquisition target was intentionally cooking its books to hide a multi-million-dollar deficit, Julian looked up from the papers with genuine shock in his eyes. He realized immediately that my sharp eye had just saved his firm from making a catastrophic investment mistake. For the first time all day, his professional mask slipped completely, replaced by a warm, undeniable smile of profound respect.
