The Woman in Accounting
Chapter 07 - The Woman in Accounting
Maria Delgado worked on the seventeenth floor.
Her employee file identified her as Maria Santos, a payroll specialist with no connection to the clinic.
Sophia found her at seven the next morning.
Maria recognized her immediately.
The folder in her hands fell to the floor.
“I wondered when you would learn.”
Sophia closed the office door.
“You knew my daughter lived.”
Maria began crying.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
She explained that after the birth, Richard ordered the medical team to sedate Sophia and transfer the baby.
Maria objected.
Martin Voss threatened her nursing license because her immigration paperwork contained an error.
She left the clinic but went to Richard’s office three days later.
She demanded that Sophia be told.
Richard offered money.
Maria refused.
Then Voss threatened to report her younger brother, who had used a false Social Security number to work.
Maria accepted a clerical job inside Bennett Development because Richard wanted her close and silent.
“I stayed because I thought one day I could collect proof,” she said.
“Did you?”
Maria unlocked a filing cabinet.
Inside were copies of payment authorizations, emails, and a recording made during a meeting with Richard and Voss.
On the recording, Richard said:
Sophia will recover faster if she believes there is nothing to search for.
Sophia gripped the desk.
Maria continued.
“I sent copies to a lawyer last month. I did not know whether he could be trusted.”
“Which lawyer?”
“Adrian Kane.”
Sophia turned.
Adrian had not discovered Emma only through DNA.
He had received evidence.
He had not told her.
That evening, she confronted him.
“You knew my father forged the papers before the party.”
“I suspected.”
“You had the recording.”
“I received it three days ago.”
“And you used Emma to force a confrontation.”
Adrian looked wounded.
“I was trying to prevent Richard from reaching her first.”
“But you brought her into that house.”
“I asked her to wait at the station.”
“She went because she wanted answers.”
Sophia stepped back.
For the first time since his return, she saw not only the man Richard had wronged.
She saw a man making decisions for others because he believed his reasons were better.
May you like
Just like Richard.
“I will not let another man decide what truth I can handle.”
