My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 755

Chapter 755

Whatever Gio had meant…

Whatever Perla had been trying to tell me….

It wasn’t going anywhere. If I wanted answers, I had to stop letting my mind run in circles.

Dad was still speaking, “Cash flow tells you the truth long before people do.”

He tapped a stack of folders resting on the conference table.

I took a slow breath, “Can I?”

He gave a single nod. I pulled out my phone and unlocked it, clicked on the app and the clean interface appeared almost instantly.

Every file I scanned was sorted automatically, there were transactions, wire transfers, construction companies, import businesses, payroll, shipping contracts, tax records.

The app highlighted patterns faster than I ever could.

Dad continued explaining territory percentages while I worked, “The docks generate less than they did ten years ago. Federal pressure changed the landscape. We adapted.”

I nodded absently, “Hm.”

I dragged another folder onto the screen, the graphs shifted, then shifted again.

A red line appeared.

I frowned. I enlarged the chart and checked the dates, six months ago. The operating accounts had almost bottomed out.

Cash reserves were almost gone. Credit lines were maxed out. There were loans everywhere, and dozens of them.

I stopped scrolling, “Dad.”

He didn’t look up from the map, “Yes?”

I checked the figures again, maybe I’d imported something incorrectly. I rescanned the files but it gave me the same answer. I opened another report and the numbers matched every single time.

I slowly looked up, “These accounts…”

He finally turned toward me, “What about them?”

I rotated the tablet so he could see, “The Syndicate almost ran out of money. You were declared bankrupt… six months ago?”

His eyes moved over the screen of my phone. He didn’t look surprised or bothered. The app highlighted another section. They were debt maturity schedules, interest payments, refinancing and emergency liquidity.

I felt my brows pull together, “We’re still carrying enormous debt.”

Dad walked over without the slightest hint of urgency. He looked at the screen, then calmly reached for his coffee, “Yes.”

I stared at him, “Yes?”

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He took a slow sip, “Markets shift.”

1 looked back at the tablet, “This isn’t a market fluctuation. Our operating costs exploded,” I opened another report, “Revenue dropped. Several businesses stopped producing. We refinanced multiple loans.”

The app linked everything together, construction, shipping, real estate, casinos. Everything was connected. Every profitable branch was supporting another one that was bleeding money.

I looked back at him, “Daddy?”

He set the coffee down, “There were setbacks.”

The answer was so calm it almost annoyed me.

I stared, “Setbacks?”

He folded his hands behind his back, “The organization expanded aggressively, so aggressively we nearly buried ourselves. Growth carries risk.”

I looked back at the screen, the graphs weren’t lying. If a normal corporation had looked like this, banks would’ve started circling, investors would’ve panicked, some companies would’ve collapsed.

I zoomed farther in, interest payments alone were staggering. Whoever had negotiated the refinancing had bought time.

My pulse quickened, “We’re still exposed.”

Dad nodded once, “For now.”

I looked at him, “You’re not worried?”

“I already handled the difficult part.”

I frowned, “The difficult part?”

“We survived.”

He said it so simply.

As though surviving the edge of financial collapse deserved no more attention than discussing tomorrow’s weather.

I searched his face.

But there was still nothing, no embarrassment, no panic, no shame, “We’ll recover.”

I looked down again, “The debt load is still enormous. The Costello’s could buy us out in a second.”

“But they won’t…”

I shook my head, “Some of these repayment schedules stretch almost two years.”

“They do.”

“Our reserves are still thin,” I slowly lowered the tablet, “And you’re comfortable with that?”

He met my eyes, “No, but I’m confident.”

He wasn’t pretending everything was perfect. He knew exactly how dangerous their position still was. He’d

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simply decided they would survive it.

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While he turned back toward the maps, I kept my eyes on the phone, pretending I was still reviewing the reports.

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Chapter 7

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