Free My One And Only by MacKenzie Taylor

misconception that Harrison's less imposing ways and more democratic leadership style meant he lacked his father's charisma and intelligence. Abby knew better. Harrison was a man willing to let others take the credit for his victories, while he alone accepted blame for his defeats.
    She understood him very well—with the exception of one missing piece to the puzzle. The tension of his relationship with Ethan seemed starkly out of character. Soon, she vowed, she'd get to the bottom of what put that slightly haunted look in his eyes whenever he thought about his estranged son. And if she were lucky, he'd forgive her for it when it was over. "I'd never lie to you," she told him earnestly.
    "I believe that," Harrison assured her.
     
     
    " W hat do you think, Jack?" Ethan sat in his San Francisco office on Friday afternoon and regarded the two men across from his desk. Late last night, after looking over the bleak evidence of Harrison Montgomery's financial picture for the third time, he'd decided he needed a second opinion on what he was seeing.
    Jack Iverson, Ethan's CFO and longtime friend, glanced up from the reports. "I think your father's got himself a hell of a mess on his hands."
    "Hmm." Ethan shifted his gaze toward the other man. "Ted?"
    Ted Conner, one of the security consultants Ethan used for special cases, looked up from his copy of the reports. "Either someone's robbing the man blind, or he's deliberately trying to run his company into the ground."
    Definite possibilities, Ethan mused, along with another, darker sc enario he wasn't willing to pur sue yet. "Do you think they could face Chapter Eleven before he can negotiate a buyout?"
    Jack gave him an affirming nod. "I'd say it's a distinct possibility."
    "What's he got to negotiate with?" Ted asked.
    Ethan shrugged. "Hard to say. I'd have to look at every division's assets separately, and I haven't put that much time into it yet. I'm not sure I want to."
    Jack dropped the stack of papers onto Ethan's desk. "From what I can tell, it started as a trickle about a year and a half ago. Now it's a hemorrhage. I can look a little harder if you want—probably nail down the dates."
    "I want to know exactly when the problem started and where. Which divisions started to lose money first, who runs those divisions, and why the problem wasn't addressed." He glanced at Ted. "As far as you can tell, could there be fraud here?"
    "Ethan, it can always be fraud."
    "But is it likely?"
    Ted shook his head. "No. The losses are widespread throughout the company. When you've got an embezzler, they're usually limited to one area of access to the company accounts. If someone's stealing money from MDS, it would have to be someone so high in the organization that he had a practically unlimited run of the place."
    "So if it's not extremely bad luck, bad business decisions, and rotten timing on Harrison's part," Ethan said, "then it could be someone with legitimate access to these accounts."
    "Or at least someone who knows how to get legitimate access," Ted pointed out. "Still, it doesn't seem likely. Montgomery is an old-school kind of manager. He's got a core of very dedicated people at the top of his pyramid. The rest are isolated in their own departments. That's part of the reason his company is falling apart."
    "All right." Ethan placed his palms on the desk. "Ted, see what you can find for me on Harrison's top tier. Put out some feelers and see if anything turns up about his people."
    "We've probably got some of that on file already," Ted told him. "When we were considering the stock option last year on Montgomery's Taiwan operation, we pulled a lot of that together. I'll see what else I can find."
    "Ethan," Jack said, "are you telling me that we're going to get involved in this?"
    "I'm getting involved," Ethan replied. He'd made that decision on his flight back from Chicago. He was definitely and completely involved with Abigail Lee. "I haven't decided yet whether Maddux Consulting is