Chapter 7: The Truth Before the Cameras
Reporters crowded Sterling’s lobby before noon.
Daniel stood behind a bank of microphones with Malcolm and their attorney.
I stepped from the elevator with Grandfather, Miriam, Vanessa and Leonard.
Daniel smiled at the cameras.
“Evelyn, you should be speaking with your attorneys.”
“I brought them,” I said.
Two Sterling attorneys moved to either side of me.
A reporter raised her voice.
“Ms.
Sterling, did you authorize the overseas transfer?”
“No.”
Daniel leaned toward the microphones.
“She had access, motive and a history of emotional instability.”
Grandfather moved forward, but I touched his arm.
“This is mine,” I said.
Daniel tilted his head.
“Are you sure?
You usually let your grandfather fight for you.”
“You spent two years teaching me to doubt myself.
That lesson ended at the altar.”
He took a folder from his attorney.
“This is Evelyn’s signed instruction directing the transfer.”
I held up the signature stamp Vanessa had found.
“And this is how you created it.”
Camera shutters clicked.
Daniel’s smile slipped, then returned.
“A stamp proves nothing.
She could have used it herself.”
Vanessa stepped to a microphone.
“It was hidden in Daniel’s apartment.”
“You lived there,” Daniel said.
“You had access to everything.”
“You called it our home yesterday.”
“Yesterday you were loyal.”
“Yesterday I believed your lies.”
Malcolm leaned toward Daniel.
“End this now.”
Daniel ignored him.
“Vanessa is a jealous woman helping an unstable bride frame me.”
Miriam connected Leonard’s laptop to the lobby screen.
“The transfer instruction came from this device,” she said.
“It was registered to Leonard but controlled remotely.”
Daniel pointed at Leonard.
“There is your thief.”
Leonard faced the cameras.
“Daniel gave me the device and ordered me to leave Sterling before the transfer.”
“Can you prove that?” a reporter asked.
“No,” Daniel said before Leonard could answer.
“He cannot.”
Miriam played an audio file.
Daniel’s voice filled the lobby.
“Take the laptop and the boxes.
When the transfer clears, destroy both.
Evelyn will be blamed before the afternoon news.”
Daniel lunged toward the computer.
Security caught him before he reached it.
“That recording was obtained illegally!”
Leonard lifted his phone.
“You called my personal number.
I recorded you after you threatened my family.”
Malcolm stepped away from his son.
Daniel stared at him.
“Don’t you dare.”
“I never approved threats,” Malcolm said.
“You approved everything else.”
“I approved a merger.”
“You approved the forged guarantee!”
Malcolm’s attorney grabbed his sleeve, but the words had already reached every microphone.
Grandfather looked at the gathered reporters.
“You all heard him.”
Daniel’s face twisted.
“You think one sentence destroys me?
My father authorized the plan.
Leonard executed it.
Vanessa kept the stamp.
Miriam stole the records.”
“And you sent the messages,” I said.
He turned to me.
“Messages can be fabricated.”
Miriam placed the original company server records on the screen.
Each email carried Daniel’s authorization code, device location and biometric login.
The reporter in front lowered her microphone.
“Mr.
Daniel, did you describe this plan as Project Bride?”
Daniel shoved past security and ran toward the side corridor.
“He’s heading for the merger server,” the chief technology officer shouted.
We followed as an alarm began to sound.
Daniel reached the server room and raised a metal chair toward the equipment.
“Put it down,” I said.
“If these files disappear, you have nothing.”
“Your confession is already live.”
He froze.
Vanessa held up her phone.
The press conference was streaming to thousands of viewers.
Daniel dropped the chair.
Two financial investigators entered with Sterling’s security supervisor.
“Daniel Mercer,” one said, “step away from the server.”
Daniel looked at Malcolm.
“Tell them she planned this.”
Malcolm lowered his eyes.
Daniel faced me as the investigators took his arms.
“You would have had nothing without me,” he said.
I removed the ring from my pocket and placed it on the server-room desk.
“I had a family, a company and a name before you.
You were the only thing I needed to lose.”
As they led him down the corridor, Malcolm called after them.
“Wait.
I want to cooperate.”
The investigator stopped.
“Then begin with the missing pension funds.”
Grandfather’s head turned sharply.
“What missing pension funds?”
Malcolm looked at Daniel, then at me.
May you like
“The two hundred and forty million dollars wasn’t meant to save our company,” he said.
“Daniel had already emptied the employees’ retirement account.”
