"You traveled using company funds?"
"It was presented as an executive relationship benefit."
"Did you know the company was paying?"
"Yes."
"Did you know whether the trips were actually business-related?"
Michael looked uncomfortable.
"Not always."
Karen stood and walked toward the window.
"Michael, do you understand what you're telling me?"
"I know how it sounds."
"It sounds as though you accepted benefits that may not have belonged to you."
He rubbed his forehead.
"I never asked for anything illegal."
"But did you ask whether it was appropriate?"
He remained silent.
Karen remembered her conversation with Tyler.
She remembered his question about whether she would have treated him differently if he had been wearing a suit.
She had spent years believing that people should be judged by their actions.
Yet she had accepted expensive privileges without asking who paid for them or whether they were deserved.
Now she was beginning to recognize that hypocrisy was not always loud.
Sometimes it appeared in the form of comfortable arrangements that nobody wanted to question.
"Michael," she said quietly, "you need to tell the truth."
He looked at her.
"What if this damages my career?"
"What if hiding it damages your character?"
Michael did not respond.
At Crescent Air headquarters, the independent investigation expanded.
The financial team discovered that several senior employees had approved expenses without adequate documentation.
Some transactions involved personal travel.
Others involved luxury accommodation, expensive meals, and entertainment.
The investigation also revealed that Victor Reynolds had maintained a private relationship with several outside contractors who received preferential treatment.
But the most troubling discovery involved a former employee named Samuel Price.
Samuel had worked in customer relations for nearly fifteen years.
He had repeatedly raised concerns about discriminatory passenger treatment and the manipulation of complaint records.
After challenging Victor's instructions, Samuel had been transferred to a lower-paying position.
Eventually, he resigned.
His departure had been recorded as voluntary.
However, the internal correspondence suggested otherwise.
Tyler read Samuel's personnel file.
"Can we contact him?"
Margaret nodded.
"We have his current details."
"Please arrange a meeting."
"Would you like me to attend?"
"Yes. But I want him to speak freely."
Samuel Price arrived at headquarters two days later.
He was a man in his late fifties, with silver hair and tired eyes.
He entered the conference room cautiously.
"Mr. Banks," he said, extending his hand.
Tyler stood.
"Thank you for coming, Mr. Price."
Samuel shook his hand.
"I wasn't sure I should."
"Why?"
"Because people like me don't always get a fair hearing when they challenge people with power."
Tyler nodded.
"I understand."
Samuel looked at him carefully.
"Do you?"
Tyler did not become defensive.
"Maybe not completely. But I'm trying to."
That answer seemed to relax Samuel.
He sat down.
For nearly two hours, he described what he had witnessed during his final years at Crescent Air.
He spoke about passengers who had been treated disrespectfully, employees who had been punished for reporting misconduct, and managers who believed that protecting the company's reputation was more important than correcting its mistakes.
He also described the day he had been called into Victor's office.
"Victor told me I was becoming a problem," Samuel explained.
"What did you say?"
"I told him that customers were becoming problems because we weren't listening to them."
Tyler leaned forward.
"What happened afterward?"
"He removed me from the premium customer relations team. Then he reduced my responsibilities. I tried to appeal, but nobody wanted to challenge him."
Samuel looked down.
"I had worked for this airline for fifteen years. I loved my job. I loved the people. But eventually, I couldn't keep pretending everything was fine."
Tyler remained silent.
Samuel continued.
"Your father was different."
Tyler looked up.
"How?"
"He used to visit the departments. He knew employees by their names. He asked the cleaners how their families were doing. He listened to mechanics. He understood that a company could not be healthy if its people were afraid."
Samuel smiled sadly.
"After he died, things changed."
Tyler felt a weight settle over him.
He had suspected that the company had drifted away from his father's values.
Now he was hearing it from someone who had witnessed the transformation firsthand.
"I'm sorry," Tyler said.
Samuel shook his head.
"Don't apologize for something you didn't do."
"I still have a responsibility to fix it."
Samuel studied him.
"Then do something important."
"What?"
"Make it safe for people to tell the truth."
Tyler nodded slowly.
He wrote the sentence in his notebook.
That evening, Evelyn asked Tyler to join her for dinner.
They sat in the family dining room, where Marcus's photographs still decorated the walls.
One photograph showed Marcus standing beside a small aircraft during the early years of Crescent Air.