Chapter 15 - THE STORY THEY TRIED TO TELL
The old lawsuit concerned a software contract from Damon's twenties. His company had automated warehouse scheduling; a client used it to cut staffing without proper notice. Damon had settled the claim and funded retraining, but the workers had never received the personal apology he should have given.
Elisa's allies released half the story, leaving out the settlement and the worker support. The headline traveled faster than any correction could.
Hannah met Damon in the boardroom while phones rang unanswered.
“You could let it die,” she said. “Everyone expects you to hide.”
“I've hidden behind checks for years.”
“Then do something different.”
He called the reporter and described what he had gotten wrong without making excuses. He declined to discuss Daisy's private life and redirected questions about Hope House to the independent review.
Meanwhile, Jessica located Ben Park through a professional license record. He had moved into a small apartment in Garland with his mother. His phone number had changed twice. When she visited with Detective Vega, Ben refused to open the door until she said Carmen was alive.
The chain slid loose.
“Is her little girl okay?” he asked.
“She's with family,” Vega said.
Ben sat on the edge of his couch, twisting his hands. He had reported the false invoices to Victor, believing the chairman would stop them. Instead, his office was searched and his access revoked.
“I copied the approval logs before I left,” he said. “Not just the invoices. The log shows whose credentials signed the transfer.”
“Can you authenticate it?” Jessica asked.
“I built the system. I can explain exactly how the data was generated.”
He handed them a storage drive and pointed at the first line: ADMINISTRATOR OVERRIDE, O. PIKE.
Beneath it sat a password reset for Damon's account, requested from a computer inside Elisa's office.
And one minute later, a payment authorization appeared under a name none of them expected.
May you like
HANNAH LEE.
