Chapter 12 - LEO’S FLASH DRIVE
Leo did not disappear dramatically.
No blood.
No abandoned car.
He just did not answer.
His wife said he left early.
Took a backpack.
Said he needed air.
Police were notified.
So were our lawyers.
At midnight, I received a text from Leo.
DON’T TRUST MARK.
My stomach dropped.
Mark Ellis.
Our general counsel.
The man helping me.
I called Leo.
No answer.
Then Mark called me.
“Leo stole company data.”
“What?”
“We have footage.”
Security video showed Leo entering the server room.
He copied files.
Then deleted something.
Mark sounded furious.
“We need to report him.”
I said.
“Already did.”
Silence.
“You called police?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Too fast.
At 2:00 a.m., Leo showed up at Anna’s apartment.
Not mine.
Smart.
He brought a flash drive.
He had copied the forensic audit before deletion.
He deleted the working server himself.
Why?
Because Mark told him to.
Mark claimed I ordered it.
Leo got suspicious.
Copied everything first.
Then ran.
We opened the drive.
Emails.
Mark and Julian.
For months.
Mark had been feeding Julian legal strategy.
How to challenge my shares.
How to frame the trust scandal.
How to delay the board.
Why?
Money.
And something else.
Mark was Chloe’s biological father.
I stared at the DNA report.
My mother had an affair thirty-two years ago.
Dad knew.
He raised Chloe anyway.
Mark knew too.
He stayed close.
Family lawyer.
Company counsel.
Hidden father.
And now he had been protecting Chloe from the inside.
I laughed until I cried.
Anna sat beside me.
“This family needs a whiteboard.”
I wiped my face.
“Burn the whiteboard.”
Leo continued.
Mark had created the fake 2018 shareholder agreement.
He used Dad’s archive access.
Melissa was only the scanner.
Mark was the author.
Then one email changed everything.
MARK: IF CLAIRE REFUSES TO DILUTE, WE FORCE A DEFAULT.
JULIAN: SHE’LL NEVER LET PAYROLL FAIL.
MARK: EXACTLY.
They had built the scheme around the one thing they knew about me.
May you like
I would sacrifice myself to protect everyone else.
