Chapter 2

Texic Group had been financially stable during the past few months.

The company had had a lot of sales and its branches had been extended to all fifty states of America, quite true and negotiations were being made in other foreign countries for the retail giant to be established there. That was also right.

Just two days ago, the ABA(The American Business Awards) had informed the Texic Group HQ here in New York that the company had been nominated for an award for being the second-highest employer after the government.

The company did was financially gigantic but the thoughts of losing $5 billion did not sit well with Jason. He knew that $5 billion to the company was like a morsel of food fall from his table. Critically analyzing the situation before him, Jason knew other business persons would have just regarded that news as bygones-but Jason was no 'other business person'.He was a staunch worker who had made Texic Group what it was today. He'd toiled day and night for quite a long time to be where he was.

As he looked at the grizzled, wrinkled-faced man in a pair of spectacles who stood at the chair before him, he found it hard to conceal the frown on his face.

"Well, you might wanna start talking, Mr. Bransen. As you can see, I was about closing" Jason didn't care if he spoke harshly. Mr. Bransen remained calm and allay. He was someone who never took offense in anything.

"Yes sir," he said in a sad hoarse voice.

"I have been studying the company's balance sheet for a while now. I found anomalies in the assets of the company"

At this, Mr. Bransen raised his hand and clipped to his mouth, with one finger tapping at his upper lip, he continued

"So I started wondering why and had to do some digging. I called the chief...."

"What...." Jason interrupted him. "....Do you mean by anomalies? what exactly are you talking about?".

Jason was already getting tired by the minute. His mind raced and his heartbeat increased rapidly. If Mr. Bransen was right about what he was saying about anomalies being in the balance sheet assets, it would only mean not just $5 billion was getting lost.

"Sir, you know the branches of Texic Group in other states are considered and managed just like individual companies and not like a corporation right?"

He paused and waited till his boss nodded before he continued.

"I studied the individual balance sheet for these branches and got a specific figure. But when I looked at the official Texic Group's balance sheet, the one joining all the branches into a single company, it gave me a different figure, yet slightly different from that of the individual search"

Jason couldn't hide his smile. Damn Mr. Bransen had proved once more to be a man who did not work just for money only.

The old man had been doing other 'jobs' which were just above his office call. by

Mr. Bransen was Jason's financial assistance. He had worked for a long time with Andrew Tynara, Jason's late adopted father. He was diligent, smart, and loving.

Since Andrew picked Jason from the streets and cleaned him, he'd always advised Jason to be like Mr. Bransen. He'd used Mr. Bransen as an example of the path he'd wanted Jason to walk on. As if to elaborate, Andrew had sung songs of praises about Mr. Bransen's bravery at work that made Jason regard the old man with respect.

Haven worked with the man in person, Jason knew for sure that his late pops weren't exaggerating when he said Mr. Bransen was the noblest man that walked the earth.

The man had contributed greatly to the growth of Texic Group. He'd been the one to advise Jason on how to invest, helped him managed the business when Jason could not do it on his own.

At a moment, Jason felt like slapping himself for taking all the credit for building the company alone.

Plenty of times, Mr. Bransen had rendered services that were unprofitable to himself but invaluable to Jason and Texic Group in general. As if for a piece of evidence, what he was telling Jason was an example.

Jason knew there was no way someone would go looking at more than fifty balance sheets more than once but Mr. Bransen had done just that and that action alone was going to seal a loophole in which billions of dollars could be missing from Texic Group without Jason's knowledge.

"Sir like I was saying" Mr. Bransen's deep voice snapped him back to his senses.

"I got the financial chiefs of the branches to give me reports. they did"

He lifted a briefcase from the floor and put it on the table. With little effort, he opened it and removed some documents, stretching them to Jason. Jason collected them from him without a word and peered into it.

They were truly financial reports from the chiefs as he'd said. On the document he held, lines were drawn vertically and horizontally, indicating sales.

There were red lines which he knew indicated a decline and blue which he knew were increase and profit. His brow furrowed when he didn't notice anything unusual from the document. He frowned and looked up from the document to Mr. Bransen's spectacled face which also stared back.

"But this is just about the sales," he said to the old man and with hand gestures, continued.

"look, there are drops in sales here which are in millions just here in New York state"

The first document he read was a financial report of Texic Group's New York market.

"I'm sure if I go through the rest of the reports, I'll see hundreds of millions of losses or maybe billions. I guess that's where the five billion dollars was missing" he said.

Mr. Bransen once more did not flinch. He rather was calm and not worry that his old age had made him get a wrong report to his boss.

A few seconds past and he said.

"Yes sir, I know that. But if you looked at the documents more closely, you'll see that all the reports have a similar 'loss and gain' pattern except for California".

With that, Jason swept the documents in search of California. True to his words, California state's reports were different from the rest.

In other states, there were blue and red lines that indicated losses and profit.

The blue arrows were up to while the reds were pointing downward, however, California's were going in both directions.

That could only mean one thing......

"Someone is embezzling Texic Group's money"

He said aloud though he never intended to. One look at Mr. Bransen's faced convinced Jason the man had come to a similar conclusion.

"Yes sir. I suspected it too"

Jason lifted his head slowly, with heart heavy and eyes dark and full as if to cry, and said slowly.

"The person or people may have embezzled even more than $5 billion".

Mr. Bransen's expression was mediocre. He lifted his hand and fitted his spectacle

"Yes, I believe more than that amount is gone but I'm afraid I don't believe a single person or group of people or even just people working in Texic Group did it alone"

He removed a document from the pile he'd given to Jason and showed something to him.

"Looking at all this shows that another company was or is being used to embezzled that money. A big company I think".

Jason sat in his chair feeling confused.

Who knows how much they'd already stolen from his company? he thought. He didn't know what to do and all this was thanks to Mr. Bransen once more.

With all that the good old man had done for him, Jason didn't know how he could pay him back.

"Sir, what are we going to do now?".

Once more, Mr. Bransen's voice snapped him from his thoughts. He knew on his own, he didn't have any solid plans, however, it didn't have to be on his own alone. Mr. Bransen had said "we" and not "You". That could only mean Jason wasn't alone in this.

Without any response, Jason removed his phone and dialed Alex's number. A minute later, his secretary stood before him besides Mr. Bransen.

"Summon a board meeting tomorrow " he ordered.

"Yes sir but......"

"NO MORE BUTS. JUST DO AS I SAY"

Jason screamed unable to control his rage anymore, trembling the girl.

"I j--ju--just w-w a wanted to ask at want time" the girl stammered.

"Make it 9 am".

"Yes sir". she curtseys again and is made to leave.

"And ask the driver to prepare the car"

"yes sir"

"I guess I should be going too!!" Mr. Bransen said as he picked his briefcase up.

"Yes, you can. Thank you for your help"

"Oh, it's my obligation".

with those last words, he walked out through the door leaving Jason whose clock indicated it was 2 pm.

Thoughts of Angelina came to his mind once more causing him to swallow hard as he arranged his table in preparation to go back home.