"I specifically told you not to involve him."
"Then you should have handled the situation before she started digging."
Richard looked furious.
"You have no idea what you're doing."
Daniel stepped closer.
"I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm trying to keep us from losing everything."
Richard shook his head.
"You think you're in control because the board gave you an impressive title. But you don't understand the history behind this company."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Then explain it."
Richard remained silent.
Daniel picked up his tablet.
"That's what I thought."
He headed toward the door.
"One more thing," Richard said.
Daniel stopped.
"Do not touch Evelyn."
Daniel turned slowly.
"What?"
"Don't threaten her. Don't send anyone after her. Don't create another problem."
Daniel stared at him.
"You think I would hurt her?"
"I think you're becoming desperate."
Daniel gave a cold smile.
"Perhaps you should worry more about the people who are actually trying to destroy you."
He left.
Richard remained standing beside the desk.
He knew Daniel was right about one thing.
The situation was becoming uncontrollable.
But there was something Daniel did not understand.
The Horizon scandal was not the only secret Richard had been hiding.
And if Evelyn discovered the truth about what happened twelve years earlier, the consequences would be far worse than the loss of a business project.
***
That evening, Evelyn arrived at her apartment shortly before seven.
She lived in a modest but elegant apartment overlooking a quiet residential street. It was not particularly large, but it was comfortable, carefully organized, and filled with books.
Her home had always been her refuge.
After long days spent negotiating contracts and managing difficult employees, she enjoyed preparing a simple dinner, listening to music, and reading until she became tired.
Tonight, however, she barely noticed her surroundings.
She placed her handbag on the dining table and spread the documents across the surface.
She wanted to understand every connection before the following morning.
She began with the Horizon payments.
The first transfer had been recorded in March.
The second followed three weeks later.
The third occurred shortly after Richard met Victor Lawson.
Each payment had been approved through a different internal department, creating the appearance of separate business transactions.
But the destination account remained the same.
Northbridge Advisory.
Evelyn opened her laptop and began comparing the payment records with the original project budget.
It took nearly forty minutes to identify the pattern.
The money had not been taken from one account.
It had been moved through several accounts before being transferred to Northbridge Advisory.
The process was complicated enough to make the transactions difficult to trace through ordinary financial reporting.
Someone had deliberately designed it that way.
Evelyn leaned back.
She thought about the three million dollars.
Then she thought about the people who had lost their jobs.
Two analysts had questioned the budget changes.
One had been dismissed for alleged performance problems.
The other had resigned after receiving a legal warning about confidential information.
She remembered speaking to the first analyst, a quiet young woman named Rachel Foster, several months earlier.
Rachel had been exceptionally good at identifying accounting irregularities.
Evelyn had once recommended her for a promotion.
Now she wondered whether Rachel had discovered the same thing.
She searched through her old emails.
After several minutes, she found a message from Rachel dated four months earlier.
The subject line read:
"Urgent: Horizon financial discrepancies."
Evelyn opened it.
The message was short.
Rachel had written that several payments appeared to have been allocated to unrelated consulting expenses. She had requested a meeting to discuss the matter privately.
Evelyn remembered responding that she would arrange a meeting the following morning.
But the meeting had never happened.
Instead, Rachel had been dismissed two days later.
Evelyn stared at the screen.
She had been so occupied with the development of Horizon that she had failed to recognize how serious Rachel's warning had been.
A wave of guilt passed through her.
She had not created the corruption.
But perhaps she could have discovered it earlier.
Perhaps she could have protected Rachel.
She picked up her phone and searched for the former analyst's contact information.
The number was still saved.
Evelyn hesitated before calling.
It rang four times.
Then a woman answered.
"Hello?"
"Rachel? It's Evelyn Carter."
Silence.
Then Rachel spoke cautiously.
"Why are you calling me?"
"I need to ask you something about Horizon."
Another silence followed.
"I don't work there anymore."
"I know."
"Then you should speak to the people who still do."
"Rachel, I found the financial records you were investigating."
The woman's breathing changed.
"What records?"
"The payments to Northbridge Advisory."
Rachel did not answer.
Evelyn lowered her voice.
"I think you were right."
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then Rachel said something that made Evelyn sit upright.
"You shouldn't have found those records."
"Why?"
"Because they were never supposed to exist."
Evelyn gripped the phone.
"What do you mean?"
Rachel exhaled.
"I tried to tell you before I left. I tried to tell the compliance department. I even sent a report to Richard's office."
"Why didn't you tell me everything?"
"Because I was afraid."
"Afraid of whom?"
Rachel hesitated.
"Victor Lawson."
Evelyn looked at the photograph lying on the table.
"Do you know him?"
"I met him once."
"When?"
"Before I was dismissed. He came to the office with Richard. They were discussing a private investment arrangement."
"What was the arrangement?"
"I don't know exactly. But I heard them arguing about an account that had been opened years earlier."
Evelyn leaned forward.
"Which account?"
Rachel's voice became barely audible.
"The original Sterling Capital account."