My Last Shot After Seven Canceled Weddings Chapter 05
Third Person POV
Marcus’ hand froze on the phone. “What was their reason?”
Dante replied, “They didn’t give a clear one, just cited strategic adjustments. But our funding pool for next quarter heavily relies on their injection. If that money gets cut off, all three product lines in development will have to stop, let alone our plans to expand the chain in the second half of the year.”
Marcus frowned. “Who’s the person in charge over there? I’ll reach out directly.”
“I already tried.” Dante’s voice sank even lower. “They said they’re only acting as custodians. The real investors someone else, and they don’t have the authority to make the calls.”
“Who’s the investor?”
Dante hesitated before saying, “We ran a check. Ceciora Capital is just a shell. When I trace back three layers of ownership, I found that the ultimate controlling entity points back to… someone with the surname Caruso.”
Marcus was stunned. “Caruso?”
“Yes, the Caruso family. But the records are extremely limited. They seem to be deliberately concealing their identity. Mr. Benton, do you… know any high-profile figures surnamed Caruso?”
Marcus ran through the names in his mind. In all his years of doing business, he had certainly met his fair share of people with that surname, but no one capable of moving a capital injection of this size through three layers of shell companies came to mind.
“Book me the earliest flight,” he said. “I’ll handle this in person.”
The moment he hung up, Bianca leaned in closer. “What’s wrong, Marcus? Did something happen?”
“Just an urgent matter at the company. I need to head back tomorrow.”
The day after returning to Utheria, Marcus buried himself in work. Inside the conference room, the CFO spread financial statements across the table. The red loss figures stung his eyes.
“That’s the long and short of it…” After running through the breakdown, Dante lingered with a hesitant look.
Marcus raised his head. “Anything else?”
“There’s one more thing… Mr. Benton, have you been able to reach Ms. Caruso?” Dante asked cautiously. “She took time off last week and hasn’t shown up to work since.”
Only then did it hit Marcus. Cecilia worked in administration at his company.
“She hasn’t come to work?” His brows knit together.
“Yes. She isn’t replying on WhatsApp, and she isn’t answering calls.”
That hollow ache in Marcus’ chest flared up again. Pushing it down, he unlocked his phone, only to see his messages still hadn’t gone through.
He was on the verge of telling Dante to keep trying, but before the words could leave his mouth, Bianca’s voice echoed in his mind. “She’s just doing it to manipulate you.”
He closed his eyes. “Leave her be for now. Who took over her responsibilities?”
wanted to assign someone, but…”
“But what?”
“Mr. Benton, Ms. Caruso never actually had a formal position registered in the company. The other team members aren’t really sure what she handled specifically, so there’s no way to do a proper handoff.”
Marcus stared in disbelief. “What do you mean she had no formal position? Who handled her onboarding?”
“You handled her employment arrangement five years ago. Your exact words were ‘Just find her a spot, and I’ll cover her pay myself”.”
Dante paused before saying, “After that, accounting never actually disbursed a salary to Ms. Caruso from the corporate account.”
Marcus’ head throbbed with a sharp buzz. “Then who was paying her salary for the past five years?”
“No one was.”
Dante lowered his head. “For these five years, she was working completely unpaid.”
Silence hung heavy in the conference room for several long seconds.
“…What? Who gave you permission not to pay her?”
Dante opened his mouth nervously. “Mr. Benton… years ago, when Ms. Warner came by the company, she mentioned that you were taking care of Ms. Caruso’s daily living expenses.
“Since her food and needs were paid out of your pocket, giving her a formal paycheck would feel like treating her like an outsider.”
For five whole years, Cecilia had been living without a single cent of income?
Marcus stood by the conference table, his hands gripping the edge so hard that his knuckles turned white.
Suddenly, a flood of small details rushed back to him.
Cecilia had never once brought up money with him. She constantly wore the same old clothes and used a four-year -old phone without replacing it. And whenever they went out to eat together and he picked up the check, she never said thank you, as if taking it for granted.
He had assumed she was simply used to being taken care of by him. Only now did he realize she hadn’t been taken care of at all.
