The Billionaire's Son(3)

“Well, then, I accept.” I spent some time reviewing the contract, while Mr. Thomas chewed heartily on his breakfast, before signing.

“Congratulations, Ms. Collins and welcome to the team. Now, let me get down to the basics.”

He rummaged through his files and located a manila envelope. He reached into the unmarked envelope and produced a key dangling from a silver key chain. "This key will get you into an office located in Mr. Vaughn’s private local residence. Mr. Vaughn has been making copies of files that he thought might be related to the issue and he has been sending them to his residence for months now. Also, you will be able to connect into his server through the computer in his office. All security passwords will be left for you there. You are to have complete access to all the many companies’ electronic records. Paper records are filed in boxes located in his residence. If there are any other paper records you find that you need, you are to contact me. Please do not make any contact with any other employees at his companies.”

Mr. Vaughn dropped the key back into the envelope and passed it to me. “Also in the envelope are the security codes to open the estate’s gate and to enter the residence through the side service doors. The staff will be told that you are working on a project for Mr. Vaughn. Your presence will not be questioned. Mr. Vaughn would want you to make yourself at home at his house. The staff will provide any meals that you should wish, please let them know of any preferences that you have. You have free access to the pool, the grounds, the media room, the kitchen – any common area. You may set your own hours and come and go as you wish. If you would like to stay at the estate during any part of your work, let the staff know and they will prepare a room for you. I suggest you do so, even if you plan to return home every evening, just so you have a private place you can go to or a place to sleep if you decide to work late. Do you have any questions so far?”

“No. Everything sounds great so far. But I still don’t know what I’m investigating exactly.” The perks of this job were sounding great. Jackson was certainly one man I wanted to leave a favorable impression of myself with. If I aced this job, I would be set.

Mr. Thomas tapped his fingers lightly on the table. “Yes, we’ll get to that in a moment. Mr. Vaughn wants you to contact him personally if you find out any important information pertinent to the case. I’m going to add here, although I’m sure you’re astute enough to realize this yourself, that it would be best not to bother Mr. Vaughn with anything trivial. His time is very valuable. If you have any doubts, please contact me first. Here is our private contact information.”

He handed over a small leather cardholder that I assumed contained their business cards with contact information. “Now, before I get into the specific case – when would you be able to start?”

“Well, I will need a couple of days to review my current caseload with my assistants and readjust assignments. I’ll need to prepare them to work without me for at least six months for now. I can adjust that down the road if need be. Luckily, I just wrapped up a big case, so I am relatively freed up. I could begin working full-time on your case starting next week if that’s okay.”

Mr. Thomas looked relieved. “Perfect. Mr. Vaughn will be pleased. Now, Mr. Vaughn wanted to meet with you personally, but he is tied up for weeks. He is hoping to catch up with you sometime next month. Maybe you will have a better grasp of the situation at that time anyhow. So for now, I will have to give you the basic rundown of the situation. It is a very delicate matter. You see; Mr. Vaughn’s son, Derek, has his own dealings mixed into much of his father’s businesses. And Mr. Vaughn has the sinking suspicion that his son may be involved in the irregularities he has been encountering.”

Mr. Thomas spent the next hour going over certain odd details that began grabbing Jackson Vaughn’s attention over the last year or so. With so little to go on, I could not be sure that something illegal was going on; however, enough red flags had been raised to warrant further investigation.

I left the meeting with my suspicions raised and it looked likely the son could be involved. Mixing family and business was always a risky proposition. Unfortunately it seemed that Mr. Vaughn would soon find out just how risky a venture it was.





It was five weeks later, and I was no closer to solving the case than when I started. Despite putting in a backbreaking amount of hours, I had come up empty handed so far. The numbers in the ledgers were beginning to blur after staring at them for six straight hours, so I decided to take a break. I had settled into a nice routine of breaking mid-afternoon to swim a few laps in the pool and soak up some sun. The swim left me recharged to work well past dinner time, if not longer. I stood from the desk and stretched. I grabbed my canvas bag with my swim items and headed for the poolside cabana.