CHAPTER FOUR: AN ALLIANCE WITH RULES

Yvette hired an independent accountant named Laila Moreno to examine the foundation’s expenditures.
Laila had spent fifteen years untangling financial confusion for nonprofit organizations.
She arrived with a portable scanner and an impatience for dramatic accusations.
“Don’t tell me what you think happened,” she said.
“Show me what somebody was paid to do.”
Damian liked her immediately.
Laila discovered that the foundation had paid a consulting firm called Northstar Civic Strategies for project coordination.
Northstar had submitted detailed invoices for community outreach, architectural consultations, and relocation assistance.
Some of those services had never reached the people named as recipients.
A family listed as receiving temporary housing had instead spent three nights in a motel they paid for themselves.
A training instructor listed as having completed orientation had never heard of the program.


The discrepancies were serious, but they did not automatically prove theft.
Laila insisted on interviewing staff and obtaining legitimate access to records before drawing conclusions.
Yvette agreed.
Cedric, however, refused to let foundation employees answer questions.
He claimed the review would frighten donors.
Yvette reminded him that the foundation had its own board.
Cedric responded by calling three trustees and describing her as emotionally unstable.
Two of them repeated the phrase to her the next morning.
She sat in Damian’s office, furious.
“He doesn’t need to win an argument if he can convince everyone I’m too fragile to have one.”
Damian handed her a glass of water.
“What does your board’s procedure say about an independent review?”
Yvette opened her laptop.
For the first time that week, she stopped discussing Cedric’s opinion and started discussing her own authority.

CHAPTER FIVE: THE DINNER

Cedric invited Damian and Briana to a private dinner at his penthouse three days later.
Damian knew that the invitation was not a gesture of friendship.
Briana spent an hour choosing a dress and complained that he seemed distracted.
He asked whether Cedric’s wife would attend.
“She has other obligations,” Briana answered too quickly.
At dinner, Cedric talked about loyalty, success, and the importance of knowing one’s place.
Damian listened while a server poured sparkling water.
Cedric eventually asked how business was going.
“Steady,” Damian said.
“You should think bigger.”
“Bigger than what?”
“Bigger than fixing kitchens for people who can’t afford proper consultants.”
Damian smiled politely.
“Those kitchens employ people.”
Cedric glanced at Briana.
“Your husband is very noble.”
Briana laughed at the wrong moment.
Damian felt the old pain rise and held it without showing it.
Later, Cedric walked him to the elevator.
“People like you spend their lives protecting things that don’t belong to them,” Cedric said.
Damian studied him.
“Is that what you believe?”
“It’s what experience taught me.”
Damian entered the elevator.
He thought about Yvette sitting alone in the warehouse that afternoon, comparing a promise on a banner with a room full of exposed wiring.
He wondered how many people Cedric had taught to doubt what they could see.