By morning, Emilia hadn't slept a wink. She didn't need rest—she needed answers.
The executive access logs had come in overnight. Clean. Too clean.
Too clean to be real.
Only one name appeared during the override window. Only one person had the clearance and the timing to authorize what Victoria Hale had done.
Martin Crest.
Chief Financial Officer.
Her father's longtime confidant.
The man who had hugged her at the funeral, whispered, "He was proud of you," and stood beside her through every board vote since.
The betrayal was personal.
She strode into the analytics division, bypassing assistants and stunned glances.
"Where's the footage from the secondary server room?" she asked one of the data engineers.
"Which—?"
"The night of the override. Give me the exact timestamp. And Martin's office feed."
The engineer paled slightly but complied. Within minutes, the screen flickered and played back grainy surveillance footage.
There he was.
Martin. Entering the restricted server access hallway at 2:43 a.m., swiping his keycard, pausing, looking directly into the hallway camera—and covering it with a handkerchief.
A move only someone practiced would try. Someone who thought they'd erased the backup feed.
The footage wasn't damning in words—but the message was clear.
Emilia pressed pause. "Download this. Secure it. Encrypt it and email it only to my internal legal team under strict NDA."
"Yes, Ms. Stone."
She walked straight back to her office, called for Tasha
"Schedule a closed-door emergency session with the audit committee. Today. I want Martin Crest in that room."
Tacha hesitated. "Emilia… what are you planning?"
Emilia's voice was ice.
"Truth."
—
That afternoon, twelve executives sat in a tight boardroom.
Martin looked calm. Relaxed. Until Emilia entered with a tablet in hand and placed it on the table.
She didn't bother with theatrics. Just pressed play.
And let the truth unfold.
Gasps.
Shifting chairs.
Martin's face drained of color. "This is—this isn't—Emilia, let's not jump to conclusions. I've been loyal—"
"Loyal?" Her tone sliced through the air. "You funded Hale's digital access. You buried transactions and hid them behind shell entities under a defunct subsidiary. You walked into a restricted server room at 2:43 a.m. and covered the camera like a thief."
"Your father—"
"Is dead," she cut in. "And you used his death to rob this company blind."
He opened his mouth. Closed it.
Security waited just outside.
She tapped her pen once on the table. "Effective immediately, you're suspended. Legal will contact you with next steps. If you try to leave the country, I'll ensure you're stopped."
Martin stood slowly. "You don't know everything."
Emilia held his gaze. "I know enough."
And with that, he left.
The room was still, breathless.
One of the younger board members finally spoke. "What now?"
Emilia exhaled, but her shoulders stayed stiff.
"Now we clean house."
---