Chapter 4 - FORTY HOURS ON PAPERThe first payroll audit covered six months.
It should have taken a week.
Marco had preliminary results by dinner because Alessandro assigned four forensic accountants to work uninterrupted.
The numbers were simple enough to be ugly.
Moretti Holdings paid Crestline for 2,940 overtime hours across household staff during those six months.
Employee payroll records showed only 1,184 overtime hours actually paid.
Difference:
1,756 hours.
Approximately $64,000 in wages.
Six months.
One client.
Three properties.
Alessandro stared at the report.
“Where did it go?”
The accountant, Rachel Kim, adjusted her laptop.
“Crestline invoices Moretti at contract overtime rates. Payroll data suggests many worker hours were later recoded.”
“Recoded how?”
“Training.”
“Meal breaks.”
“Schedule corrections.”
“Nonbillable cleanup.”
Marco frowned.
“Cleanup is literally the work.”
Rachel nodded.
“Yes.”
Some employees had clocked sixty hours.
Their pay statements showed forty.
Other weeks showed forty-five with only two overtime hours.
Some time entries were edited after the employees clocked out.
“Who has permission to edit?”
Rachel answered:
“Denise.”
“Anyone else?”
“Victor Salerno’s estate-operations credentials can approve exceptions through the integration.”
Alessandro did not speak.
Rachel continued.
“There’s a second issue.”
Of course there was.
“What?”
“Sick leave.”
Workers had ten days funded through the contract.
Payroll balances reflected five.
The value of the missing five days remained in a Crestline administrative reserve.
“How much?”
“Approximately $118,000 annually across Moretti-assigned staff.”
Alessandro looked at Marco.
“We pay it.”
“Yes.”
“They keep it.”
“Possibly.”
“What happens when someone uses more than five days?”
“Unpaid.”
Sofia had two sick days left on paper.
According to the contract Alessandro signed, she should have had seven.
He thought of her hospital bed.
“I can go tomorrow.”
Fear had been economically manufactured.
An employee who believed illness meant unpaid rent had less ability to refuse unsafe work.
Alessandro asked:
“Health coverage?”
Rachel hesitated.
“Complicated.”
He hated that word now.
“What?”
Moretti Holdings funded ninety percent of insurance premiums for eligible full-time household staff.
Crestline’s payroll showed employees paying nearly forty percent.
Alessandro’s face hardened.
“So we subsidize them.”
“Yes.”
“And workers pay again.”
“Appears so.”
“Where does the difference go?”
“We’re tracing.”
Marco leaned against the desk.
“Victor should be here.”
“He’s late.”
Alessandro checked the time.
Victor was never late.
At 7:22, Marco received a message.
Victor had entered the property.
He walked into the study four minutes later.
Gray suit.
No tie.
Silver at his temples.
Confident.
“Alessandro.”
“Sit.”
Victor looked at Rachel.
Then the reports.
His expression barely moved.
That worried Alessandro more.
“You’ve turned this into an audit.”
“It is an audit.”
“Over one housekeeper?”
“Over my money.”
Victor smiled faintly.
That was the wrong response.
Alessandro continued.
“And money belonging to people who worked for it.”
Victor sat.
“Crestline handles payroll.”
“You approved the contract.”
“Yes.”
“You approved amendments.”
“Yes.”
“Did you approve reducing sick leave from ten days to five?”
“No.”
Alessandro slid the housing document across.
“Your initials.”
Victor examined it.
“I approve operational attachments constantly.”
“Without reading them?”
“Sometimes.”
Alessandro stared.
Victor sighed.
“You approve things without reading every page too.”
True.
That irritated Alessandro because it was true.
“What did you think you were approving?”
“Updated occupancy procedures.”
“Thirty-day eviction after termination.”
Victor frowned.
“I didn’t write that.”
“You signed it.”
“Initialed.”
“Explain the difference to the family being removed in thirty days.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“This is becoming theatrical.”
Marco looked away.
Alessandro’s voice dropped.
“Be careful.”
Victor knew that tone.
He softened.
“I’m saying we should establish facts before treating clerical discrepancies like conspiracy.”
Rachel turned her screen.
“1,756 missing overtime hours are not clerical.”
Victor looked.
Then:
“Crestline may have billing classifications that differ from payroll categories.”
“Then explain paid sick leave.”
“I can’t.”
“Health insurance.”
“I can’t.”
“Industrial chemicals assigned to asthmatic staff.”
Victor looked surprised.
That appeared genuine.
“Who?”
“Sofia Delgado.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Why is she afraid I’ll fire her?”
Victor almost laughed.
“Alessandro, everyone who works for wealthy families worries about being replaced.”
“No.”
Alessandro leaned forward.
“She specifically believes absence equals termination and losing housing.”
Victor shrugged.
“Then Denise communicated poorly.”
There it was.
Always downward.
Denise.
Sofia.
Workers.
Never Victor.
Alessandro opened another document.
“Crestline contract renewals increased fourteen percent last year.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Labor cost inflation.”
“Workers received three percent.”
Victor stopped.
Rachel looked at Alessandro.
He continued.
“Where is eleven?”
Victor’s face changed slightly.
“Benefits. Administration. Insurance.”
“We already pay insurance separately.”
Silence.
Alessandro finally asked:
“Do you have any financial interest in Crestline?”
“No.”
“Family?”
“No.”
“Friend?”
“Business relationships are broad.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Victor looked at him.
“No.”
Marco’s phone buzzed.
A secure message.
He read it.
Then looked at Alessandro.
“We found a company called VSM Consulting.”
Victor’s face changed.
Small.
Enough.
Marco continued.
“Crestline paid it $412,000 over three years.”
Alessandro stared at Victor.
“What is VSM?”
Victor said nothing.
Rachel checked corporate registration.
Manager:
Victor Salerno.
The room went completely silent.
May you like
Alessandro leaned back.
The man who had spent ten minutes explaining why everyone else might be confused had just run out of explanations.
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