Chapter 11 - The AuditThe audit took nine months.
Every expense had to be classified.
Legitimate.
Inflated.
Duplicated.
Unsupported.
Fraudulent.
The final findings were precise.
$212,300 had been paid.
$81,900 represented legitimate care.
$22,600 was poorly documented but substantially real.
$107,800 was unsupported or fraudulent.
Another $174,100 in pending requests was rejected before payment.
The trust survived.
But systems had failed.
Hawthorne had failed to verify the changed email.
They had failed to identify Aurelia's beneficial ownership of her company.
They had trusted caregiver authorization too much.
They changed everything.
Two-channel communication.
Conflict disclosures.
Independent verification.
No caregiver-controlled vendor without committee review.
No major residential placement without clinical recommendation and court oversight.
The reforms were boring.
Boring was good.
Then came my own consequences.
I accepted anger-management diversion for throwing the tray.
I paid a fine.
I completed counseling.
I told Sorrel the truth.
“Daddy got in trouble for throwing the tray.”
“But she chained me.”
“Yes.”
“You saved me.”
“Getting you free and getting you somewhere safe was saving you. Throwing the tray afterward was anger.”
“She deserved it.”
I shook my head.
“She did something terrible. That doesn't mean I get to hurt her after you're safe.”
Sorrel thought about it.
Then asked:
“Can revenge be pasta?”
I laughed.
“Apparently.”
May you like
It was the first time either of us had laughed about that night.
It felt like a small door opening.
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