Chapter 7 - What Isabella Found
Chad stood.
“What is that?”
Isabella looked at Ethan.
“I found it under the table where Mr. Lee was standing.”
Marcus returned.
“Where?”
Marcus took it.
Chad laughed.
“You accusing someone?”
Marcus ignored him.
He looked at Ethan.
“The executive audit.”
Brooke approached.
“What audit?”
Ethan watched Chad.
Interesting.
Marcus plugged the drive into an offline tablet.
Files appeared.
Payroll.
Vendor contracts.
Then one folder.
MERCER.
Chad’s face changed.
Brooke noticed.
“What is that?”
Marcus opened it.
Invoices from a consulting company.
Paid by Sterling Biotech.
Chad said quickly, “Legitimate consulting.”
Ethan asked, “For what?”
“Market access.”
“Deliverables?”
Chad shrugged.
“Confidential.”
Marcus opened another file.
No reports.
No memos.
No work product.
Only invoices.
Brooke stared at Chad.
Chad looked at her.
“This is business.”
“I was helping.”
“Four million dollars?”
Chad’s voice sharpened.
“Brooke, not now.”
Ethan had heard it before.
The moment one controlling person realizes another controlling person has stopped performing affection.
Marcus opened a contract amendment.
Signed by Martin Sterling.
Countersigned by Chad.
Automatic fee escalation if Sterling Biotech entered distress financing.
Ethan leaned back.
“So the worse the company did, the more Mercer Capital got paid.”
Chad said, “That is standard restructuring work.”
“No,” Ethan replied. “That is incentive design for failure.”
Chad stepped closer.
Isabella spoke quietly.
“He does.”
Everyone turned.
She flushed.
Ethan almost smiled.
Brooke stared at Isabella.
“You’re still here?”
Isabella looked at her.
Brooke laughed bitterly.
“Of course he did.”
Ethan heard the jealousy.
Not romantic.
Status.
Brooke could not stand that someone she considered invisible had been invited into a conversation she no longer controlled.
Then Marcus opened the final file.
Martin’s voice.
Chad’s voice.
And a third voice Ethan recognized immediately.
May you like
Brooke’s.
She had known about the payments all along.
