Chương 8
This felt deliberate.
Victor ended the call and remained still.
Samantha watched him from across the office.
She had seen her father angry before.
Usually, it was quiet anger.
The kind that made people lower their voices.
But this was different.
This was the expression of someone who had discovered a crack in something he had spent his entire life building.
"Is everything okay?"
Victor looked at her.
"No."
She nodded slowly.
She did not ask for details.
That was one thing she had learned from him.
Some problems needed answers.
Others needed space.
A few minutes later, Victor called Robert.
"Freeze all external payments connected to the Dupont review."
Robert answered immediately.
"All of them?"
"All of them."
"That will create questions."
"It should."
Robert paused.
"Do you suspect someone here?"
Victor looked at the city outside.
"I suspect someone made a decision they thought nobody would examine."
"Do you want security involved?"
"Not yet."
Robert lowered his voice.
"Victor, if this is fraud..."
"I know what it could become."
He closed his eyes briefly.
"But I want facts before fear."
That afternoon, Meridian's legal department began a confidential review.
Only a small group knew.
The fewer people involved, the fewer opportunities there were for someone to interfere.
Victor hated secrecy.
He had built his company on transparency.
But transparency without control could become another weakness.
While the investigation began, Daniel Mercer sat alone in his apartment across town.
The place looked like someone had stopped living there properly.
Unwashed dishes sat near the sink.
Mail covered part of the counter.
A stack of unopened envelopes leaned against a coffee machine he rarely used.
Daniel was forty-six years old.
He was not a criminal mastermind.
He was not the kind of person people imagined when they heard words like fraud or corruption.
He was a man who had made a series of small decisions that became larger than he could handle.
A failed business.
A divorce.
Medical bills from his father's illness.
Loans he promised himself he would repay next month.
Then the next month became the month after that.
His phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Harrison Dupont.
Daniel let it ring twice before answering.
"You shouldn't call me."
Harrison's voice was sharp.
"You disappeared."
"I told you not to contact me."
"After everything I did for you?"
Daniel laughed quietly.
The sound carried no humor.
"You did things for yourself."
A pause.
Then Harrison said, "Careful."
Daniel rubbed his face.
"That's exactly what I should have done months ago."
"You think you can walk away now?"
"I don't know what I can do anymore."
The honesty irritated Harrison.
People like Harrison preferred opponents who fought.
Regret was harder to control.
"You were paid."
"I know."
"You agreed."
"I know."
"Then remember that."
Daniel looked around his apartment.
The walls felt closer than usual.
"I remember everything."
He ended the call before Harrison could respond.
For the first time in months, he felt something close to relief.
Not because he was safe.
He wasn't.
But because pretending had become exhausting.
The following morning, Victor received a report from the internal review team.
It was not complete.
But it contained enough information to change the situation.
One employee in Meridian's procurement division had accessed confidential evaluation documents.
The access occurred outside normal work hours.
The employee had also communicated with an external consultant.
Daniel Mercer.
Victor read the report carefully.
"What is the employee's name?"
Robert looked uncomfortable.
"Michael Trent."
Victor recognized the name.
Michael had worked at Meridian for seven years.
He was not a senior executive.
Not someone people would immediately suspect.
That made it more dangerous.
People often searched for betrayal among powerful people.
They forgot that access mattered more than status.
"Bring him in."
Robert looked at him.
"Should legal be present?"
"Yes."
"And security?"
Victor thought about it.
"No."
Robert seemed surprised.
"Why?"
"Because if he is guilty, he already knows."
Victor closed the file.
"If he is scared, we need to know what he does before he knows what we know."
The interview took place that afternoon.
Michael entered the conference room carrying a nervous energy he could not hide.
He sat down.
His hands moved constantly.
Fixing his sleeve.
Adjusting his watch.
Touching the edge of the folder in front of him.
Victor noticed everything.
"Michael."
"Yes, sir."
"You know why you are here?"
Michael swallowed.
"Something about the Dupont account?"
"Why would you think that?"
The question caught him.
His eyes moved briefly toward Robert.
Then back.
"I heard people talking."
"Who?"
"I don't remember."
Victor leaned back.
That answer came too quickly.
"You accessed restricted documents three times."
Michael froze.
"I was checking something."
"At midnight?"
"I couldn't sleep."
Nobody spoke.
The excuse sounded weak even to Michael.
Victor opened another page.
"You sent information to Daniel Mercer."
Michael's face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
"Who told you that?"
Victor looked at him.
"That is not the important question."
Michael stared at the table.
"I didn't give him everything."
Robert leaned forward.
"What did you give him?"
Michael's breathing became uneven.
"Nothing important."
Victor watched him.
"People always say that when they know something was important."
Michael covered his face with one hand.
"I didn't think it would become this."
There it was.
Not denial.
Not confusion.
Regret.
"What did you think would happen?"
Michael looked up.
His eyes were tired.
"My wife lost her job last year."
Nobody interrupted.
"Her insurance ended."
He looked down.
"My daughter needed treatment."
Victor's expression softened slightly.
Not because the excuse erased responsibility.
It did not.
But because human beings were rarely simple.
"What did Daniel offer you?"
Michael hesitated.
"Money."
"How much?"
"Twenty thousand."
The number sat in the room.
Small compared to the contract.
Huge compared to the desperation that accepted it.
"Did Harrison Dupont know?"
Michael closed his eyes.
"I don't know."
Victor believed that answer.
May you like
Not because Michael was innocent.
Because people involved in wrongdoing often knew less than they imagined.
