Chapter 4 - THE AUDIT UNRAVELS
"That's... that's impossible," Brent stammered, his eyes darting wildly between Sergeant Miller’s tablet and my worn canvas jacket. "The owner lives in Chicago! He never comes here!"
"I live ten miles away in Oak Park, Brent," I said, my voice cutting through the silent lobby like a blade. "I built this kitchen with my own hands three years ago. I hired your regional director, Marcus, to run high-level operations so I could spend evenings with my daughter. And three months ago, I approved your promotion."
I took a step toward the host stand. Vanessa shrank back against the wall, gripping her reservation tablet like a shield.
"S-Sir," Vanessa whispered, her voice trembling violently. "I... I was just following procedure—"
"Procedure?" I interrupted, pointing toward the seven empty tables in the main dining room. "Your procedure is turning away paying families because they aren't wearing three-thousand-dollar suits? Your procedure is telling an eight-year-old girl she doesn't belong here?"
"Mr. Bennett, please," Brent stammered, sweating through his navy collar. "There's been a terrible misunderstanding! If I had known who you were—"
"If you had known who I was, you would have treated me like a king," I said coldly. "Which proves you don't care about customer service. You care about power. And cover-ups."
I held up my phone, showing him the live data feed from Executive Audit Mode.
"While you were busy calling the police on me," I continued, "my system completed an automated forensic sweep of your POS terminal logs over the past five months."
Brent swallowed hard, a visible tremor running through his hands.
"Eighty-six thousand dollars in cash overrides," I read directly from the screen. "Forty-two hidden customer complaints deleted from the system. And nineteen 'complimentary' high-end steak dinners served to your personal friends on weekend nights, billed to 'kitchen waste'."
Sergeant Miller narrowed his eyes at Brent. "Sounds like corporate embezzlement, Mr. Bennett."
"It is," I said. "And grand larceny."
"David, please!" Brent begged, dropping his professional posture entirely. He stepped around the desk and reached out his hands as if to grab my arm, but Sergeant Miller immediately stepped between us, placing a warning hand on his tasers. "I made a mistake! I can pay the money back! I have savings! Don't ruin my life over this!"
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"You didn't just steal my money, Brent," I said, looking down at Lily, who was holding my hand with a proud smile on her face. "You humiliated my daughter in the restaurant I built for her future."
I looked at Sergeant Miller. "Officer, as the legal owner of this establishment, I am officially pressing charges for grand theft, corporate fraud, and embezzlement."
