Chapter 5 - The Brother Upstairs
Julian Reed returned from Chicago at 8:20 the next morning.
Marcus watched his younger brother cross the lobby through a live security feed.
Julian was forty-four, tall, controlled, and normally impossible to read.
Today he looked irritated.
Not afraid.
That distinction mattered.
Simone had instructed Marcus not to confront him without counsel present.
Marcus ignored the spirit of that instruction while technically following it.
He waited in the executive conference room with Simone beside him.
Julian entered carrying a leather briefcase.
“You froze every operating account.”
“External transfers.”
“You canceled two vendor payments.”
“One was headed to Northbridge.”
Julian stopped.
For half a second, something crossed his face.
Recognition.
Then it disappeared.
“What happened?”
Marcus studied him.
“Darnell Harris.”
Julian frowned.
“Security?”
“He earns forty-eight fifty a month.”
“If you say so.”
“He’s been receiving about two thousand.”
Julian slowly sat.
Marcus continued.
“For six months.”
Julian looked toward Simone.
“Payroll error?”
“Eighty-two employees,” she said.
That changed him.
Not visibly enough for anyone unfamiliar with him.
Marcus was familiar.
Julian’s thumb stopped moving against the handle of his briefcase.
“Eighty-two?”
“Yes.”
“And the missing wages were routed to Northbridge Workforce Holdings.”
Julian’s eyes returned to Marcus.
“I approved Northbridge.”
“I know.”
“That vendor was established for legacy employee obligations after the Meridian acquisition.”
“Whose obligations?”
“Advances, wage corrections, acquired-company liabilities.”
“Darnell never had an advance.”
“Then somebody classified him incorrectly.”
“All eighty-two?”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“Marcus, what exactly are you accusing me of?”
“I haven’t accused you.”
“You froze bank access.”
“Because somebody tried moving six hundred twelve thousand dollars at midnight.”
Julian leaned back.
“From where?”
“Our operating reserve.”
“To Northbridge.”
Julian looked genuinely surprised.
Marcus hated that he could not tell whether the surprise was real.
“Who authorized it?”
“A Reed executive device.”
Julian reached into his pocket.
Simone said, “Please put your phone on the table.”
Julian looked at her.
“Excuse me?”
“Company counsel is preserving devices associated with potentially unauthorized transfers.”
“My phone is company property?”
“The executive authentication profile is.”
Julian looked at Marcus.
“You’re letting her seize my phone?”
Marcus answered quietly.
“I’m asking you to put it down.”
Julian placed it on the table.
Simone bagged the device.
Marcus then set a still image from the March security footage between them.
Calvin Moss.
Julian’s watch.
Julian stared.
“What is this?”
“Calvin entered your office at two in the morning using Richard’s old badge.”
Julian picked up the photograph.
“He had my watch.”
“Yes.”
“I gave it to him.”
Marcus said nothing.
Julian continued.
“In January.”
“Why?”
“He admired it.”
“The watch Dad gave you?”
Julian’s expression sharpened.
“Yes, Marcus. The watch Dad gave me. Am I required to preserve every object from our childhood because you do?”
The old tension arrived instantly.
Marcus felt it and hated himself for feeling it.
Their father had loved them both.
But Isaiah Reed had trusted Marcus with leadership.
Julian had never forgiven the difference.
“Why was Calvin in your office?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he have permission?”
“No.”
“Did you know he retained Richard’s badge?”
“No.”
“Did he help establish Northbridge?”
Julian paused.
“Yes.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“How?”
“He managed the vendor onboarding.”
“Did you verify ownership?”
“Legal did.”
Simone said, “Which lawyer?”
Julian looked toward her.
“I don’t remember.”
“That’s a five-million-dollar relationship.”
“It wasn’t five million when we approved it.”
Marcus asked, “Who owns Northbridge?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who does?”
“Ask Calvin.”
“We tried.”
Julian looked at the photograph again.
“Where is he?”
“Nobody knows.”
That answer finally frightened him.
Julian stood.
“You need to find him.”
Marcus remained seated.
“We are.”
“No, you need to find him now.”
“Why?”
Julian looked at Simone, then Marcus.
“Because Northbridge was never supposed to receive payroll money.”
The room went silent.
Marcus said, “Explain.”
Julian exhaled.
“Northbridge was created during the Meridian acquisition because we found contingent liabilities the seller had not properly disclosed. Employee advances, vendor disputes, pending benefit reconciliations.”
“Why a separate company?”
“To isolate the liabilities until the acquisition audit finished.”
Simone frowned.
“That structure makes little sense.”
“It was temporary.”
“Who suggested it?”
Julian answered.
“Calvin.”
Marcus watched his brother carefully.
“And you approved it.”
“Yes.”
“Did the board know?”
“Finance committee.”
“I chair the finance committee.”
“You missed that meeting.”
Marcus remembered.
His daughter Maya had graduated from Howard that weekend.
He had delegated the meeting.
To Julian.
Simone asked, “Show us the minutes.”
Julian’s face tightened.
“There should be records.”
Richard entered holding a tablet.
“There are.”
Everyone turned.
Richard placed the tablet on the table.
“I checked.”
The finance committee minutes recorded approval of Northbridge.
They listed Marcus as present.
They recorded his vote as yes.
Marcus stared.
“I wasn’t there.”
Richard nodded.
“I know.”
Julian looked at the document.
For the first time since arriving, his composure disappeared.
“Calvin wrote the minutes.”
Simone asked, “Who signed them?”
Richard enlarged the document.
At the bottom were two digital signatures.
Julian Reed.
Marcus Reed.
Marcus’s signature looked perfect.
Julian’s did too.
Then Richard opened the metadata report.
Both signatures had been inserted at the same time.
From the same computer.
Calvin Moss’s workstation.
Julian sat slowly.
Marcus expected relief.
Instead he saw dread.
Julian whispered, “He knows.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Knows what?”
Julian closed his eyes.
When he opened them, his voice was different.
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
“He knows where our father hid the real partnership agreement.”
And suddenly the stolen wages were no longer the only thing Marcus had to worry about.
