The Billionaire's Irresistible Enemy

Ch. 38

Colton

On Friday afternoon, Luna and I showed up at the Harvey Clothing Line office. The receptionist led us to Harvey Springsteen's office.

Harvey Springsteen, a man renowned for his impeccable reputation, greeted us warmly, then we exchanged pleasantries.

"Thank you, Mr. Springsteen. We appreciate you for letting us see you. I hope we're not bothering you too much." Luna said.

"No worries, Luna. I'm super close to your parents, you know. They're awesome people, and we've worked together in the past. I saw you grow and all I want is for you to have the best future possible."

He kept going on about how he was grateful to Elena for collaborating with his clothing brand, which really helped his business take off. He was simply returning the favor.

"So, let's get down to it. If you don't mind, I'll have my lawyer and controller to join us. They'll give you a clearer picture and answer questions you have."

"Absolutely. We would like that." I said.

Two men walked right into his office, and he introduced them to us. Attorney Whitman and Mr. Kwan. We pulled up chairs to a round table and began discussing.

"These are the incriminating documents which serve as concrete evidence of Mr. Cox's embezzlement from Harvey Clothing," Atty Whitman explained. "They sum up to $100,000."

Luna and I checked out the papers. A list of clients and collectibles, job orders, delivery receipts and others. They were under Cox.

"How did you find out?" I asked.

"We got suspicious when a client said he already paid his bill. He also showed us an official receipt, which was not recorded in our system." Mr. Kwan said. "We checked the Account Receivables and discovered a bunch of unpaid accounts from Mr. Cox's clients. We sent the statement of accounts to these clients, and they said the same. They've already paid and showed us their receipts."

"Mr. Cox created fake receipts for cash payments." Whitman added, then showed us the receipts. "These are the real receipts, and these are Mr. Cox's fake ones."

"They look exactly alike, except for the paper." I said, as I felt the texture of the paper.

"The guy knows how to fake documents. He's done it before. That's why he wasn't scared of pulling off that crime."

Luna looked embarrassed for Cox. Her hands clasped together in front of her.

"What did Barry say?" She finally found her voice. She had been quiet, obviously shocked at the revelation.

"At first, he straight up denied it." Atty. Whitman said, "then we reported him to the NYPD, and he got into prison for a week. We found out he had a criminal record of swindling and fraud and a vehicular accident that was eventually dismissed."

"So, what happened next?" I asked.

"He couldn't handle prison. He admitted his mistake and said he couldn't give the money back. He paid it to a loan shark."

I glanced at Luna, and she looked really pale. I was scared she might faint. But the lawyer just kept going, making sure we got all the info we needed.

"He gets high with his buddies and some girls, usually models, using cocaine. They do it every Friday night without fail. He's a big spender when it comes to treating the girls to luxury items. He just wants to show off that he's loaded."

"We were gonna pursue the case, but Mr. Springsteen said no, it's not worth it." Mr. Kwan informed us.

"Exactly." Harvey said. "I didn't want to let the incident out to the press, especially to our clients, because it would have consequences for our company. I dropped the case and made sure nobody said a word to prevent any drama or scandal."