"Your mother had powerful friends. The people involved had enough influence to destroy anyone who challenged them. After Daniel died, I was threatened. My accounts were frozen. My home was taken through legal proceedings. I lost everything."
Victoria stared at him.
"So you disappeared?"
Thomas nodded.
"I thought leaving was the only way to survive."
He looked at the photograph.
"But I never stopped trying to protect your father's evidence."
Victoria wiped her eyes.
"Where have you been all these years?"
Thomas gave a tired smile.
"Some years I worked in warehouses. Some years I slept in shelters. Sometimes I had no place to go at all."
Victoria looked at his torn jacket.
For the first time, she saw more than an old homeless man.
She saw someone who had once helped build the company bearing her family name.
Someone who might have lost everything because he had refused to remain silent.
CHAPTER 7: THE SECOND DOCUMENT
Thomas removed another folder.
"This is the most important part."
Victoria looked at the papers.
"What is it?"
"An audit prepared by an independent accounting firm before your father died."
She opened the folder.
There were transaction records, account numbers, signatures, and handwritten notes.
The documents suggested that the missing money had not been stolen by Daniel.
Instead, it had been transferred through several companies connected to a private investment group.
One of those companies had later acquired a large portion of Sterling International.
Victoria recognized the name.
It was the same investment group currently negotiating with her company.
Her face went pale.
"That's impossible."
Thomas shook his head.
"Look at the dates."
Victoria compared the documents.
The transactions had occurred twenty years earlier.
The investment group had acquired its first major interest shortly afterward.
The official explanation had always been that it had rescued Sterling International from financial collapse.
But according to the documents, the collapse might have been deliberately created.
Victoria slowly lowered the folder.
"Who else knows about this?"
"Nobody I trust."
"Have you taken these documents to the authorities?"
"I tried."
Thomas explained that he had submitted copies years earlier.
But the investigation had stalled after several key witnesses withdrew their statements.
Some had moved away.
Others had died.
The original evidence had been difficult to authenticate.
And Thomas had no money to continue fighting.
Victoria looked at the old man.
"Why bring everything to me now?"
Thomas took a breath.
"Because I heard the investment group was returning."
He pointed toward the upper floors.
"I read that you were about to sign a new agreement with them."
Victoria stared at the documents.
The meeting was scheduled for that afternoon.
The group planned to acquire a controlling interest in Sterling International.
If the deal went through, the company could become the instrument used to conceal the original financial fraud.
Thomas looked directly at her.
"Your father spent his final days trying to stop them. I cannot let his daughter sign away the truth."
CHAPTER 8: THE WOMAN WHO REFUSED TO BELIEVE
Victoria looked toward the elevators.
She had a board meeting in less than an hour.
The investment group was expected to arrive shortly.
She needed to verify everything.
But part of her still resisted.
Her mother had raised her.
She had protected her after Daniel's death.
She had helped her through school and supported her when she took over the company.
Could Margaret really have been involved in something so terrible?
Victoria looked at Thomas.
"How do I know these documents are real?"