Chapter 4 - The Insider Trading Trap
The memo was fake.
That should have comforted me.
It did not.
The formatting matched Vantage internal style almost perfectly.
My signature block had been copied.
A confidential transaction code was correct.
Only six people knew that code.
Kira.
Me.
Our chief investment officer.
Two analysts.
And outside counsel.
Someone had access.
Julian looked at me.
“So you didn’t target my family because of me?”
“No.”
“Then why Hawthorne?”
“Because distressed debt is what my firm buys.”
He gave a weak laugh.
“Romantic.”
“Very.”
Kira traced the fake memo to a PDF created three days earlier.
The embedded font package came from a Hawthorne corporate license.
Marcus Bell again.
The CFO was manufacturing a story.
Why?
We subpoenaed nothing yet.
We did not have authority.
But as debt holder, we had audit rights.
I issued a formal books-and-records demand.
Charles refused within twelve minutes.
Then he called.
“You think you can blackmail me?”
“I think your loan agreement has Section 8.14.”
Silence.
“You read it?”
“I bought it.”
His breathing changed.
I continued.
“Segregate the pension assets.”
“Open the books.”
“Standstill for seventy-two hours.”
“Or I accelerate.”
Charles exploded.
“You are enjoying this.”
“No.”
That was the truth.
I had enjoyed the first thirty seconds on the yacht.
Then employees entered the equation.
Revenge had become work.
Charles finally agreed to a meeting.
Eleanor attended.
She wore white.
Of course.
Julian sat at the far end.
Marcus Bell did not appear.
Charles claimed illness.
Kira asked for remote access.
Denied.
Then I noticed Eleanor’s handbag.
A flash drive hung from a gold keychain.
She caught me looking.
Her hand moved over it.
Too late.
Kira saw too.
“Mrs. Richardson.”
Eleanor smiled.
“Yes?”
“Is that company property?”
“No.”
Julian stared at the drive.
“Mom.”
Her smile tightened.
“What?”
“That’s Dad’s board archive drive.”
Charles turned.
“What are you doing with that?”
For the first time, the Richardsons stopped performing unity.
Eleanor stood.
“Meeting over.”
Kira blocked nothing.
She simply said.
“If you leave with corporate records after a formal preservation notice, the record will reflect that.”
Eleanor froze.
Then Julian whispered.
“Mom, what did you do?”
She looked at him.
And said.
May you like
“What I had to.”
