“For six weeks, our auditors have reviewed expenses authorized by Daniel and charged through Patricia’s consulting budget.”
Patricia snapped, “Those were business expenses!”
Elaine stood.
“No, they weren’t.”
A murmur rolled through the crowd.
I clicked again.
A spreadsheet appeared showing payments from the company to a shell consulting firm called Brighton Advisory.
$42,000.
$38,500.
$61,000.
Daniel stepped backward.
I had discovered Brighton three weeks earlier.
Its registered owner was Patricia.
But the bank authorization led somewhere even more interesting.
Daniel.
Patricia suddenly looked at her son.
“You told me she didn’t know.”
There it was.
The first crack.
Daniel lunged for the microphone.
I stepped away.
He lowered his voice.
“Claire, listen to me. We can explain everything privately.”
“You had eighteen months.”
“Don’t destroy my career because of a misunderstanding.”
“You forged my electronic approval on eleven transfers.”
The room erupted.
His father, who had been sitting silently near the aisle, stood abruptly.
“Daniel?”
Daniel ignored him.
His eyes stayed on me.
“You can’t prove that.”
Marcus spoke from behind us.
“We can.”
Daniel went still.
Marcus lifted a sealed folder.
“Device logs, IP records, timestamps and internal messages.”
Patricia stared at me as though finally seeing me clearly.
I hadn’t merely discovered their theft.
I had let it continue long enough to document the pattern.
Daniel had assumed my silence meant ignorance.
Patricia had assumed my generosity meant weakness.
They had chosen their target badly.
Very badly.
Patricia recovered first.
“So what?” she spat. “Daniel runs that company. Without him, you’re nothing.”
Several executives in the audience exchanged glances.
I almost felt sorry for her.
“Patricia,” I said, “who told you Daniel owns the company?”
Her mouth opened.
Daniel suddenly looked terrified.
I turned to him.
“You never told her?”
“Claire…”
“I own sixty-eight percent.”
Patricia slowly turned toward her son.
“You said you were majority owner.”
Nobody spoke.
Daniel had lied to everyone.
Including his own mother.
I lifted the microphone.
“And now we reach the part Daniel definitely forgot to mention.”
## PART 3
Daniel stepped toward me.
“Claire, don’t do this.”
I looked at Marcus.
“Is the emergency board resolution effective?”
“Yes.”
“Elaine?”
“Bank authorization changes were processed twenty minutes ago.”
Daniel’s expression collapsed.
I faced him.
“You and Patricia are terminated effective immediately.”
Gasps filled the ballroom.
Patricia grabbed a chair.
“You cannot fire me!”
“I just did.”
Daniel shook his head rapidly.
“You need board approval.”
“I have it.”
“You don’t have enough votes.”
“I have sixty-eight percent personally. Another seventeen percent voted with me this morning.”
His mouth fell open.
I continued.
