Chapter 4 - The Junior Adviser
The screenshots were ugly, but screenshots could be faked.
I told Tasha to save the security footage and asked Ethan to continue the meeting without me.
“You sure?” he asked.
“Yes.”
I changed shirts in my office and called the number in the anonymous email.
A woman answered after four rings.
“Hello?”
“This is Maya Bennett.”
Silence.
Then a shaky breath.
“My name is Ava Kim. I work under Lauren.”
“Did you send the screenshots?”
“Yes.”
“Why me?”
“Because she said your husband was the client. Then I saw your name on the committee list.”
Ava spoke quickly, like someone afraid courage might expire.
She said she had built models Lauren presented as her own. She had sourced two prospects Lauren claimed credit for. Worst of all, Lauren had pressured her to change the date on a suitability memo after a client complained.
“That’s a compliance issue,” I said.
“I know.”
“Have you reported it?”
Ava laughed once without humor. “To the manager who’s sponsoring Lauren for partner?”
I leaned back.
“Do you have originals?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t send anything else to me. Preserve it. Send it through your firm’s compliance channel or to counsel.”
She sounded surprised.
“You’re not going to use it?”
“I’m not going to become part of mishandling evidence because I’m angry.”
Ava was quiet.
Then she said, “There’s something else.”
I waited.
“Lauren knew who you were before today.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“What?”
“She had a profile on you in the pitch folder. Your restaurants. Your ownership. Your board seat. Everything.”
That made no sense.
If Lauren knew I owned the restaurant, why pretend I was a waitress?
Ava lowered her voice.
“She told us you wouldn’t be at the meeting.”
“Who told her that?”
“I don’t know. But someone did.”
A second later, my office door opened.
May you like
Lauren stood there.
And she had clearly heard the last sentence.
