191 The Verdict
Lucian
Thirty minutes later, Alice McBride arrived. She was petite, elegant, and to my surprise, familiar to my father.
“Alice?” he said, standing.
“Hello, Vander,” she replied with a warm smile, shaking both our hands.
He gestured to the chair across from him.
“Lucian, Alice went to school with your mother. They were best friends in Driftwake.”
I looked at Alice. She nodded, confirming it, still smiling gently. I couldn’t believe she hadn’t mentioned it earlier.
“How’s your family, Alice?” my father asked.
“They’re doing well, Alpha Vander. Thank you,” she replied politely.
I linked a staff member to bring juice, and we got down to business.
She laid the documents out with practiced efficiency, explaining everything in detail, numbers, gaps, anomalies. Her breakdown was precise, and it painted a disturbing picture.
“How are we even owing wages?” I asked, trying to keep the frustration out of my voice.
Alice leaned back, folding her hands in her lap.
“Lucian, I’ll be blunt. You can take this or leave it.”
She paused. I nodded for her to continue.
“Someone inside your company is sabotaging you. If you don’t root them out soon, they’ll destroy everything you’ve
built.”
It wasn’t a theory, it was a verdict. I believed her. There was no way outside hackers could keep breaching our systems without help from the inside. Chase’s fingerprints were all over this. But why? What was his endgame?
“Do you have any suggestions for finding them?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“I’m afraid I don’t. But start with your accounts and IT departments. That’s where the leaks are happening. Anyone tied to Winston’s Corp is a suspect.”
She was right. We’d tightened security and still, they kept getting in. Someone was feeding them access. And whoever it was… they were close.
“Are you saying Winston’s Corp is responsible for the thefts?” I asked.
Alice shook her head.
“Not necessarily. The thefts could be from anywhere. But Steel Corp’s financial spiral, that, can be directly traced back to Winston’s Corp. They’ve been undersupplying your clients for months. You paid full price for goods they never delivered. That’s not just sloppy business, Lucian. That’s betrayal.”
She leaned forward, her tone no longer clinical but personal.
“I’m speaking now not as an auditor, but as your mother’s friend. You haven’t been paying close attention until recently, and they took full advantage of that. Winston’s Corp needs to answer for this. This isn’t a civil dispute, it’s sabotage.
* 191 The Verdict
And when it’s the Alpha’s company on the line, it’s treason.”
She was right. Every word.
I left her and my father in the office, giving them space to reconnect while I moved quickly to act.
I called Denis.
“Status?” I asked.
+ Fonts >
“We’ve got the board,” he replied. “All but two, Chase Nighthorn and a guy named Geoffrey Nickson. Never heard of him before. Both are missing.”
Of course Chase was missing. His official residence was in Mistwood, and we couldn’t touch him there.
“Freeze all their accounts here in Mooncrest,” I said. “Issue a directive to flag any transfer to accounts outside the island or off-continent. We keep this lockdown in place until we have Chase in custody.”
“Understood.”
I hung up and returned to my father’s office. Alice was gone. He looked… lighter. Not cheerful, but less buried in guilt. Still, I knew once he went back to his room, the weight would come crashing down again.
“I’m sorry, Lucian,” he said quietly. The guilt was thick in his voice. He knew this was on him, not just Martha.
“This is your fault, not hers,” I replied, calmly but without softening the truth. “She manipulated you, sure, but you let it happen. You should’ve done the inspections. You should’ve questioned the numbers. No one stopped you.” He nodded, eyes downcast.
“Where do we even begin?” he asked. “We can’t let Steel Corp die, Lucian.”
“We start by purging the rot,” I said. “The accounts department, IT, anyone involved gets pulled. Tomorrow, I’m replacing the entire staff. Darian will take over the investigation. He’ll work faster than I can. We’ll get to the bottom of this… I just hope it’s not too late.”
Steel Corp wasn’t just a business, it was our legacy. And I wasn’t going to let it fall without a fight.
