Chapter 6 - THE ACCOUNT THAT HAD NO CHILDREN
Mila spent six days in the hospital. Her recovery was slow, but each morning brought a small improvement. She began eating soft food, then sitting up, then asking when she could go home.
Megan kept a notebook of every medicine and instruction. She was afraid that if she forgot one detail, something terrible would happen.
Damon visited once, bringing a picture book and a small red ribbon for Mila's hair.
“Not too tight,” he told Megan. “The nurse said she should be comfortable.”
Mila smiled at him. “You brought red.”
“I remembered.”
She held up Mr. Button. “He likes red too.”
Damon sat beside the bed. For several minutes, he let Mila tell him the rabbit's adventures. He had negotiated with men who feared him, but he found himself listening carefully to a three-year-old explain how a stuffed rabbit had rescued a moon.
When Mila grew tired, Megan walked Damon into the corridor.
“There's something I need to ask,” she said. “Why did Vanessa hate the envelope so much?”
Damon handed her a copy of the trust audit.
“The Sterling Children's Fund was created by my mother. She wanted the children of employees to have access to medical care. Vanessa persuaded the board to let her manage its administration. The transfers began after that.”
Megan looked at the figures. “But where did the money go?”
“Companies that did no real work. Some belonged to her relatives. Others were created for the transfers.”
“Why burn my envelope?”
“Because the envelope contained the bank reference for a payment connected to the fund. She thought destroying it would remove a link between her and the account.”
Megan frowned. “But my hospital papers were inside.”
Damon nodded. “She knew that. She didn't care.”
The audit showed that the fund had stopped paying several families' medical claims while money was being diverted. Three applications had been marked incomplete even though the families had submitted every document.
Megan recognized one name.
“Mrs. Alvarez. She worked in the laundry. Her son needed a hearing device.”
Damon took the page. “I'll have the claims reviewed.”
“Not just hers. All of them.”
He looked at Megan.
“That's what my mother would have wanted,” she said.
Damon studied the list. He had inherited the fund, but he had not paid enough attention to it. He had trusted Vanessa to manage the details because she had presented herself as organized and generous.
“I'll reopen every application,” he said. “An independent panel will review them. No one connected to my family will control the decisions.”
Megan nodded.
“And the people who lost their jobs after asking questions?”
“They'll be contacted.”
She looked at him. “Thank you.”
Damon shook his head. “Don't thank me for correcting something I should have noticed.”
That afternoon, he met with the board. Several members tried to persuade him to keep the scandal private until the next quarterly meeting. Damon refused.
“The money was meant for sick children. We will tell the families what happened, repay what was taken, and report every crime.”
One board member warned that the news could damage the Sterling name.
Damon looked at him.
“Then the name can survive the truth.”
The decision was made.
For the first time since the fund was established, its accounts would be published and independently audited.
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And the woman who had exposed the theft was not a lawyer, accountant, or executive.
She was a maid who had recognized a red ribbon in a fire.
