Chapter 4
Marcus didn't let the aircraft depart.
He called the captain immediately.
"Cancel the flight until we verify every amendment."
The captain agreed.
Then Marcus contacted Bennett Aviation's security director.
Within minutes, additional staff arrived.
The aircraft remained parked.
The engines stayed off.
And Noah slept peacefully against my chest, unaware that his parents had just discovered something terrifying.
I looked at the revised flight plan again.
Savannah.
A private airfield.
No explanation.
No authorization from Marcus.
No approved business purpose.
I turned toward my husband.
"Did you know about any scheduled stop?"
He shook his head.
"Absolutely not."
I felt cold.
"Then why would Richard change the destination?"
Marcus rubbed his forehead.
"I don't know."
I studied the printed amendment.
It referenced an operational transfer.
The words were vague.
Too vague.
I had spent years reading documents designed to make questionable transactions look ordinary.
This had the same feeling.
I looked toward Danielle.
"Who normally approves these changes?"
She answered carefully.
"Operations management can submit amendments, but the captain must verify them before departure."
Marcus nodded.
"Good."
I turned back toward the document.
Something near the bottom caught my attention.
Cargo handling authorization.
I frowned.
"Why is there a cargo reference?"
Marcus leaned closer.
"What?"
I pointed.
The amendment included an instruction concerning sealed equipment cases.
My stomach tightened.
"Are there any equipment cases aboard?"
Marcus looked toward the captain.
The captain immediately requested a check of the aircraft's loading records.
A few minutes later, he returned.
"Mr. Bennett, there are two cases listed under SkyBridge Medical Logistics."
My heart pounded.
SkyBridge.
The same company from the suspicious invoices.
I looked at Marcus.
He looked stunned.
"Who authorized them?"
The captain checked his tablet.
"Richard Lawson."
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
The missing connection.
The questionable medical flight invoices.
The unauthorized destination change.
The equipment cases.
And the flight attendant who'd been instructed to remove me.
Marcus looked toward the security director.
"Do not open anything until the appropriate procedures are followed. Preserve the records."
The director nodded.
I appreciated that.
We needed answers.
But we also needed to avoid creating problems by handling unknown cargo carelessly.
The cases were secured pending inspection by authorized personnel.
Then Marcus and I left the aircraft.
A company vehicle drove us to the private terminal.
I settled Noah into his carrier.
He was finally sleeping soundly.
I watched him for a moment.
Then I began shaking.
Marcus noticed immediately.
"Nia?"
I looked at him.
"What if I'd left?"
He frowned.
"What?"
"If Vanessa had forced me off the aircraft, would you have known about the destination change before departure?"
Marcus went still.
I continued.
"Would you have noticed the cargo?"
He looked toward the runway.
Then back at me.
"I don't know."
That answer frightened us both.
I hugged Noah closer.
Marcus wrapped one arm around my shoulders.
"We're safe."
I nodded.
But I didn't feel safe yet.
Not while someone we trusted was apparently using our aircraft without permission.
Not while hundreds of thousands of dollars were moving through questionable invoices.
And not while Richard Lawson remained unreachable.
At the terminal, Marcus called our outside counsel, Patricia Greene.
She listened carefully.
Then began coordinating a formal internal investigation.
I explained what I'd found in the foundation records.
Marcus described the unauthorized flight amendment.
The security director documented the boarding incident and relevant employee statements.
Patricia advised us to preserve everything.
No deleting emails.
No altering records.
No confronting Richard privately.
I agreed.
Marcus looked furious.
He wanted to call Richard again.
Patricia discouraged it until the evidence was secured.
Reluctantly, he agreed.
An hour later, our external bookkeeper, Tasha Williams, called me.
"Nia?"
Her voice sounded nervous.
"Yes?"
"I sent the packet you requested."
My heart jumped.
"Thank you."
She hesitated.
"There's something you should know."
I sat straighter.
"What?"
"I found discrepancies in the SkyBridge invoices."
I closed my eyes.
"I suspected that."
She continued.
"Some charges appear to have been approved without matching service records."
I looked at Marcus.
He immediately sat beside me.
I put the call on speaker.
Tasha explained that several payments had been processed through Bennett Aviation rather than directly through the foundation.
The amounts were substantial.
And the supporting documents were incomplete.
I asked her to preserve everything and communicate through Patricia.
She agreed.
Then she whispered something that made my stomach tighten.
"Nia, I think Richard knows I found the discrepancies."
I stared at the phone.
"Why?"
"Because someone accessed the shared records last night."
Marcus leaned forward.
"Who?"
Tasha hesitated.
"The account was registered to Richard."
I looked at Marcus.
His expression darkened.
Tasha continued.
"And this morning, I received an email telling me not to send you anything."
My heart pounded.
"Who sent it?"
"Richard."
I closed my eyes.
He'd tried to stop me from boarding.
He'd tried to delay the financial packet.
And he'd accessed the records overnight.
This was no longer an ordinary accounting question.
Something serious was happening.
After the call, Patricia arranged for an independent forensic review.
Marcus suspended Richard's access to company systems through authorized security procedures.
He also placed Richard on administrative leave pending investigation.
I watched my husband make those decisions.
He looked devastated.
Richard had attended family holidays.
He'd congratulated us when Noah was born.
He'd stood beside Marcus during difficult business negotiations.
Now we were discovering that trust might have been misplaced.
That evening, we returned home.
No trip to Charlotte.
No birthday celebration.
Instead, Marcus called his mother and explained that a business emergency had delayed us.
She understood.
Then she asked to speak with me.
"Nia, sweetheart, are you all right?"
I looked at Noah sleeping in his bassinet.
"I'm okay, Mama Evelyn."
Her voice softened.
"And my grandson?"
"He's perfect."
She laughed gently.
"Good. That's what matters."
I almost cried.
Because after the day we'd had, hearing someone speak with simple kindness felt overwhelming.
After the call, I sat beside Marcus.
He was staring at his laptop.
"Any news?" I asked.
He nodded slowly.
"The cargo records came back."
My stomach tightened.
"What did they find?"
He looked at me.
"The two cases weren't medical equipment."
I stopped breathing.
"What were they?"
He turned the screen toward me.
The preliminary inspection report listed sealed document boxes and electronic storage devices.
I stared at the description.
Then Marcus said, "They contained company records."
My heart pounded.
"Why would Richard move company records to Savannah?"
Marcus shook his head.
"I don't know."
Then he opened another file.
A transfer authorization.
The receiving party was listed as SkyBridge Medical Logistics.
And the person scheduled to collect the cases was someone I'd never heard of.
Daniel Cross.
I looked at Marcus.
His face was pale.
Then he whispered, "Nia, Daniel Cross used to work for my father."
I stared at him.
"What?"
Marcus swallowed.
"He was fired six years ago after a dispute over missing funds."
My stomach turned.
The suspicious invoices.
The unauthorized cargo.
Richard's secrecy.
And now a man connected to a previous financial scandal.
I looked toward Noah's bassinet.
May you like
For the first time, I wondered whether someone had been using our family company for years.
And whether my questions had placed us directly in the middle of something dangerous.
