“I take care of the things I value,” Arthur corrected sharply. “I cultivate growth. And I remove invasive species.”
He paused.
“Like you.”
Arthur tossed a file onto the polished mahogany table. It slid across the surface and stopped directly in front of Marcus.
It wasn’t the merger agreement.
“What is this?” Marcus stuttered.
“That,” Elena said, standing up, “is the audit.”
She pressed a button on the remote hidden in her palm. The massive presentation screens behind Marcus—meant to display soaring stock projections—flickered and changed.
Instead of graphs, they showed emails.
From: Marcus Sterling
To: Jessica Vane
Subject: Fixing the Q2 books
Body:
“Inflate user numbers by 40%. The Helios idiot won’t dig that deep. We take the cash and run before the algorithm collapses.”
The board members gasped.
Jessica, standing near the window, turned pale and slowly tried to edge toward the door.
“Sit down, Jessica,” Elena ordered.
The authority in her voice was so absolute that Jessica froze.
“The FBI is waiting in the lobby. You’re not going anywhere.”
Marcus lunged toward the remote.
“Turn it off! This is fake! She’s a bitter ex-wife!”
“And this?” Elena said, clicking the remote again.