Chapter 8 - THE TRAP REVERSED
Two armed security guards immediately moved toward the stage.
The press cameras flashed furiously! Guests whispered in shock!
Leah stood behind the podium, her heart hammering against her chest, staring at the strange routing number on the screen. "I... I didn't enter that routing code! The master file was encrypted!"
Julianna marched up the center aisle, looking up at the stage with triumph in her eyes.
"We trusted you!" Julianna yelled for the benefit of the reporters. "Calder took you out of the gutter, gave you a job, and you used your access to rob the foundation!"
Calder Rowan stood up from Table One.
He didn't panic. He didn't look at the press. He walked calmly onto the stage, stepping right beside Leah. He took her hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"Calder!" Julianna called out, stepping up the stage stairs. "Don't defend her! The proof is on the screen! She altered the routing code!"
"She didn't alter anything, Julianna," Calder said, his voice calm, clear, and projected directly through his lapel microphone.
Calder pulled a sleek silver remote from his pocket and pressed a button.
The main screen behind them flickered. The false Panama routing error disappeared, replaced by a high-definition video recording taken three hours ago inside the Foundation's server room.
On the screen, crystal clear, was Julianna Vance.
The video showed her using a stolen master keycard to access Leah’s podium tablet, inserting a flash drive, and executing a malicious script to alter the destination accounts.
The ballroom went deathly silent.
Julianna’s face turned from triumphant red to a sickly, ghost-white pale. She stumbled back a step. "That... that’s a fake! That’s an AI generation!"
"It’s not a fake, Julianna," Calder revealed cold as ice. "Three weeks ago, our cybersecurity chief noticed unauthorized access attempts targeting Leah's files. We placed a hidden camera in the server room and isolated Leah's real presentation on an air-gapped server."
Calder tapped the podium tablet once more.
The real progress bar appeared:
TRANSFER COMPLETE: $10,000,000.00 Successfully Routed to the City of Bellweather Family Care Fund.
The room erupted into wild cheering!
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Harrison Vance stood up, slamming his walking stick against the floor, looking at his daughter with utter disgust. "Julianna... you fool!"
Two officers from the Financial Crimes Unit stepped out from the side wings of the stage, clicking steel handcuffs around Julianna Vance's wrists as she screamed and struggled, being dragged past five hundred wealthy donors and every news camera in the state.
