Chapter 8: The Hidden Ledger
By 2:00 AM, the boys were fast asleep in the penthouse guest suite, wrapped in thick cashmere blankets.
Marcus sat at his desk under the dim glow of a banker’s lamp, carefully turning the burnt pages of Arthur’s notebook. But Leo had handed him something else before falling asleep—a small plastic cassette tape wrapped in Arthur’s old employee badge.
"Mom said Dad hid this behind the water heater before his shift," Leo had murmured.
Marcus found an antique tape deck from his vintage audio collection, inserted the cassette, and pressed play.
A hiss of static filled the quiet room, followed by Arthur’s gruff, tired Pennsylvania accent.
> *"Audio log, October 14. Arthur Campbell. I’m making this record because Miss Sterling told me to falsify the maintenance log for Sector 4. The main pressure sensors were flagged red three weeks ago. Vance Dynamics cut the safety budget by forty percent to rush the prototype demonstration for investors. I have copies of the original inspection reports locked in locker 104 at the central terminal. If anything happens to this facility... it wasn't an accident. It was cost-cutting."*
Marcus felt the blood drain from his face.
The failure hadn't been his prototype design. It had been corporate greed—Victoria’s aggressive cost-cutting ahead of the company's initial public offering. She hadn't protected him from prison; she had protected herself and used Arthur Campbell as the sacrificial lamb.
Marcus stared at the cassette. In six hours, the international press would gather for the emergency board meeting. Victoria believed she had cornered him with financial ruin and the threat of removal.
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She had no idea that Marcus Vance was no longer playing by corporate rules.
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