Chapter 17 - THE SECOND BETRAYAL
Marcus returned to the company's archives.
He found another name buried inside an old personnel file.
Helen Mercer.
The company's former chief legal officer.
She had resigned eleven years earlier.
Marcus called her.
She agreed to meet.
When they sat across from each other, Helen looked exhausted.
“I knew this day would come.”
“What happened?”
“Your father suspected Crane.”
“And you?”
“I suspected someone else.”
“Who?”
Helen looked around.
“Your uncle, Victor.”
Marcus frowned.
“My uncle?”
“He was involved before Crane.”
Helen handed him a folder.
Inside were old contracts, payments, and private meeting notes.
Victor had been moving money from the company for years.
But there was something worse.
He had recruited Crane.
Then Voss.
Three layers of corruption.
All designed to hide the same theft.
Marcus suddenly realized that his father's company had been compromised long before he became CEO.
“What happened to Victor?”
Helen's expression changed.
“He disappeared.”
“When?”
“Three days before your father died.”
Marcus felt a coldness settle over him.
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This wasn't merely corporate fraud.
It was a family secret that had been buried for decades.
