Chapter 5 - The Audits and the Affairs
The public backlash was instantaneous and brutal. Ryan’s public image collapsed within minutes of the press conference. The local news station pulled the interview, and protesters gathered outside the motel where the Mercers were hiding.
But the real damage was happening in the digital dark.
As the founder of a massive logistics empire, I had access to data routing that standard investigators could never dream of. My forensic IT team spent forty-eight hours dissecting Ryan's corporate laptop, which had been seized during the estate eviction.
"We found it, Mr. Vance," the lead analyst said, opening a file marked Project Titan.
Ryan hadn't just brought a mistress home; he had been using Vanessa, who worked as a consultant for a rival logistics firm, to funnel inside information about Northstar's shipping routes out of Mercer Financial’s servers. He was planning to short Northstar stock, tanking my company's value to enrich himself before filing for divorce from Emily.
"He wanted to destroy my life's work to pay off his mother's gambling debts," I muttered, reviewing the encrypted emails between Ryan and the rival firm.
May you like
"It gets worse, sir," the analyst continued. "We tracked the bank account where Vanessa received her kickbacks. The co-signer is Margaret Mercer. They were using the mistress to launder the corporate espionage money."
I smiled. It was the kind of smile that preceded a hurricane. "Send the entire packet to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the FBI. Let's see how Ryan likes federal holding cells."
