Chapter 6 - Unmasking the Snake
The walk up to the top floor was agonizingly quiet. Marcus followed two paces behind me, his footfalls heavy and uneven. When we entered my corner office, I closed the heavy oak door and stood behind my desk, refusing to offer him a seat.
"Sit down, Marcus," I said coldly.
He hesitated, then sank into the leather chair, pulling at the collar of his dress shirt. "Evelyn, look, I’m sorry about what happened downstairs. I had no idea your father was... like that. It must be terrible dealing with family drama—"
"Stop talking," I interrupted, placing both palms flat on my desk and leaning forward. "How long have you been in contact with Arthur?"
Marcus's eyes widened in genuine panic. "What? Evelyn, that's crazy! I don't know your father! I’ve never met the man in my life!"
"You're a brilliant accountant, Marcus, but you're a terrible liar," I said softly. "Arthur knew my company's private valuation. He knew the exact weekend of Noah's birthday party. He knew I had just signed the buyout agreement for our firm's secondary division. That information isn't public record. Only three people in this company had access to those financial projections: me, my CFO, and you."
Marcus opened his mouth to object, but no words came out. His throat hitched.
"I had my IT team run a background audit on our internal server logs yesterday after my lawyer suggested an insider leak," I continued, pulling up a printout from my desk drawer. "Three weeks ago, an encrypted folder containing my personal tax summary and corporate earnings was downloaded onto an external flash drive from your workstation at 8:45 PM on a Friday."
Marcus turned pale. Sweat broke out across his forehead. "Evelyn... please..."
"Why?" I asked, feeling a mixture of anger and deep disappointment. I had mentored Marcus. I had given him a 20% raise last Christmas. "Why would you help a man like that try to destroy me?"
Marcus lowered his head, burying his face in his hands. "I didn't know he was going to blackmail you like that! I swear to God, Evelyn, I didn't know!"
"Then what did you think he was going to do?!" I slammed my hand on the desk, the loud crack echoing in the quiet room.
"He... he came to me two months ago," Marcus stammered, his voice trembling. "I was at a bar near downtown. He overheard me talking to a colleague about working at Vantage. He approached me, said he was your estranged father, and said he was worried about you. He said you were hiding money from taxes and that he was trying to save you from a federal investigation."
"And you believed him?" I demanded.
"No!" Marcus confessed, tears brimming in his eyes. "At first I told him to go away. But then... he offered me money, Evelyn. Ten thousand dollars cash. I... I have gambling debts. Bad ones. Guys were coming to my house. I was desperate."
"So you sold my confidential files to a predator for ten grand," I stated, the disgust in my voice unmistakable.
"He told me he just wanted leverage to force you to talk to him!" Marcus sobbed. "He said you were holding a grudge over a childhood misunderstanding! I didn't know he was going to crash your kid's birthday party! I didn't know he abandoned you!"
"Your ignorance doesn't excuse your treason, Marcus," I said, sitting back down in my executive chair. "You breached corporate security, violated your non-disclosure agreement, and committed corporate espionage."
"Please don't call the police," Marcus begged, dropping to his knees beside my desk, clutching his hands together. "It will ruin my career! I'll never work in finance again! I'll give back the money! I'll do whatever you want!"
I looked at him—a grown man reduced to begging because he chose greed over loyalty. He reminded me of Arthur: always looking for a shortcut, always blaming desperation for evil actions.
"You're fired, Marcus," I said flatly. "Effective immediately. Pack your personal belongings under security supervision. If you are not off the premises in fifteen minutes, I will press full criminal charges for theft of corporate property."
"Evelyn, please!"
"Ten minutes," I corrected, pointing to the door.
Marcus scrambled to his feet and ran out of the office, his face red with shame.
I picked up my phone and dialed Sarah Vance. "Sarah, we found the leak. It was my associate, Marcus. I just terminated him. I want you to draft a civil lawsuit for breach of fiduciary duty and corporate theft immediately. Let's make sure Arthur has no allies left."
"On it," Sarah replied. "And Evelyn? I just got a call from the courthouse. Arthur just tried to file his filial support petition."
May you like
I paused. "And?"
"The court clerk took one look at our preliminary evidentiary filing and refused to docket it," Sarah laughed triumphantly. "Arthur is officially out of legal moves."
