AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Alex’s paperwork and the internal memo I showed you, which was my copy, arenotidentical. There is one minute difference. Coded. Undetectable to the naked eye. And these four other copies, are all just a little different as well. I was wrong before, when I said that only six people had a memo? There are actually seven. Our senior security officer. She is the one who inserted the codes to differentiate the memos. And is also the only person who keeps the master list of which copy belongs to whom. So, when I give her this copy that Alex has from Drake Farmington, you tell me, who do you think it’s going to show that it belonged to?"
Gerry blanches when I hold up his copy again.
"You. You and only you are the person who leaked this information to Drake Farmington, and then encouraged him to put in a joint bid with Hamilton, knowing that would put Luna in the line of fire. You also used your personal relationship with Alex Hamilton to do some digging around Hamilton and that’s how you found out the little details such as the possibility ofMiss Pham starting a job with Hamilton, the details about her personal trust. Why? I imagine because you wanted so badly to take me out of commission for the CEO vote that you would’ve lost Baxter a government contract worth close to a billion dollars. Isn’t that right, Uncle Gerry?"
The entire room falls silent.
"Oh my god," one of the other directors says, staring at Gerry in horror. "‘Gerald is this true?"
"What? Of course not!"
I tap the table for attention again. "I’m not done. At our last meeting Matthias asked Gerald about the news article, how he might have become privy to it, and he said that he was sent it anonymously. Thankfully, we have someone who was helpful to us in finding that out. Matthias. Could you ask Clarissa to join us, please? You remember Ms. Masters, don’t you, Uncle Gerry?"
My brother gets up and walks to the door, his face a poker face that Kiara would be proud of.
Clarissa steps into the room, her face, on the other hand, a perfect storm of determination and retribution. "Hello, Gerry," she says, her voice dripping with hate. Matthias touches her gently on the shoulder and returns to his seat. Luna shuffles over to her, confused, but still reaching out to squeeze her hand. The two share a look of support.
"Ms. Masters, I know it can’t be easy for you to be here today, considering the company, and so I thank you. Could you please share with us what you know about the Commerce Insider, please?"
She clears her throat, and speaks to the group but stares at Gerry the whole time. "I have some connections with the publication, and after speaking with the editor, and while they have not disclosed the reporter’s name, they forwarded me the emails that were sent from an anonymous source withthe information that was used for the article. The Baxter bid numbers, for one, as well as details about Miss Pham."
"Thank you, Ms. Masters."
"Did you know, Uncle, that almost all correspondence you do through your phone and home network, which is owned and paid for by the company, can be traced? You can create as many fake Gmail accounts as you like. But they all run off the same network. Maybe if you’d actually sat in on a security meeting once in a while, you’d have known to have used a burner phone. Here is a report on the IP address of where those emails came from. One guess who it matches with." I throw a folder with all the emails printed out onto the table. "Actually, let’s just make it easy for everyone. It was you, Gerry. All of this was you." I turn to the head of the table. "Mr. Chairman, I would like to yield the floor for my uncle. I’m sure he has so much to explain."
Then I sit down.
My job done.
Where there was chaos is now just horrified silence.
"Oh my god," one of Gerry’s allies gasps, covering her mouth with her hand, too shocked to even look at him.
Gerry stands, his eyes darting around the room. "Wait. No. You… you have it all wrong."
"Then enlighten us, Gerald," Leonard says, the horror on his face clear.
"I…no. Wait. I…" He staggers, moving the papers over the table as if he can maneuver them into a picture where he isn’t the villain.
"You really sabotaged your own nephew and the company just to be CEO?" my father speaks up. "Our father would throw you out of this room himself, right now."
"You shut up! You of all people don’t know. You don’t know. You never knew what it was like for me! Putting you on a pedestal all those years and then when you stepped down,he still overlooked me for these kids in diapers? He never considered me once!" He thumps himself in the chest, “Not one time."
Dad just stares at him, no pity, no guilt.
I shake my head. "That’s the thing though, Uncle Gerry. He did. You had the position for almost five years. You had five years to prove yourself. He gave you that. He didn’t think you could do it, but he still gave you the chance. And all you had to do was show up and do the job as best as you could. Instead you showed us all exactly what you are."
"You did this. You orchestrated this whole thing, you opportunistic little shit," he hisses, face blotchy with anger and failure.
"No. You did. All I did was sit back and let you dig your own grave. Do you refute any of the evidence I present today?"
He looks down at the documents on the table and then back at me. "Y-Yes!"
"Which ones?"
"All of them!"
"I don’t think so."
