Chapter 8 - The Call
I put the phone on speaker.
Marcus sounded breathless.
“I came home twenty minutes ago.”
“Are you safe?”
“For now.”
Ethan moved closer.
“What happened?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Who’s there?”
I looked at George.
“The Mitchell family.”
Silence filled the line.
Then Marcus said quietly.
“Do not let George leave with any documents.”
George’s face turned red.
“This is insane.”
Marcus heard him.
“George?”
George stepped toward the phone.
“You miserable little thief.”
Ethan moved between us.
Marcus laughed once.
“You still think intimidation works.”
I interrupted.
“Marcus, what was taken?”
“My laptop.”
“Anything else?”
“Paper files.”
He took a breath.
“But they didn’t find the drive.”
George froze.
I saw it.
So did Ethan.
“What drive?”
Ethan asked.
Marcus answered.
“The backup.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Patricia sank into a chair.
Marcus continued.
“I copied internal payment records, emails, and contract approvals.”
George shouted.
“You stole proprietary information.”
“I preserved evidence.”
“Of what?”
Marcus went quiet.
Then he said the words George had desperately tried to prevent.
“Bid manipulation.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Ethan stared at George.
Marcus continued.
“Kickbacks.”
Patricia whispered his name.
“Fraudulent valuations.”
George stepped away from the phone.
“This man is disgruntled.”
“And false vendor payments.”
Ethan looked at Vanessa.
She shook her head rapidly.
“I didn’t know.”
Marcus heard her.
“Vanessa?”
She closed her eyes.
“I told you to give me time.”
Marcus’s voice changed.
“You told me your father would destroy me.”
Ethan stared at her.
Vanessa began sobbing.
“I was trying to protect everyone.”
“By threatening the whistleblower?”
“I didn’t threaten him.”
Marcus answered.
“You told me I would never work again.”
“That’s not a threat.”
I watched Ethan’s face.
Vanessa realized it.
She quickly added.
“I was scared.”
Ethan stepped away from her.
“Were you scared when you sprayed my mother?”
She stopped crying for half a second.
That pause told him everything.
I returned to the call.
“Marcus, call the police regarding the break-in.”
“I already did.”
“Do not come here.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
I almost smiled.
“Good.”
He lowered his voice.
“There’s something else.”
George looked toward the phone.
Marcus continued.
“The payments weren’t only connected to George.”
Vanessa looked up.
Patricia’s face turned pale.
“Who else?”
I asked.
Marcus hesitated.
“Someone at Carter Meridian.”
Ethan stiffened.
I felt my stomach tighten.
“What level?”
“Executive.”
One of the two Carter executives still inside the room exchanged a look with the other.
Marcus continued.
“That’s why the Mitchell numbers passed internal review.”
Ethan looked at me.
Now everything made sense.
The strange approvals.
The rushed valuation reports.
The pressure to close the partnership before the wedding.
Someone inside our own company had been helping.
“Do you have a name?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Before Marcus answered, the line went dead.
I looked at the phone.
May you like
The call had disconnected.
Then the lights throughout the mansion went out.
