Chapter 6 - THE CORPORATE ULTIMATUM
By Monday morning, the financial scandal had completely exploded across every major news network.
The stock price of Vance Dynamics plummeted by forty percent in a single trading day.
I was sitting in my lawyer's downtown office when my phone rang with an unknown number.
It was the interim Chairman of the Board for Vance Dynamics.
"We need to meet immediately," the Chairman said, his voice completely devoid of pleasantries.
I agreed to meet him at a highly public coffee shop near the courthouse.
He arrived wearing a sharp gray suit and carrying a silver briefcase.
He slid a thick legal contract across the small wooden table.
"The board of directors is willing to pay you ten million dollars right now."
"We will completely clear the fraudulent lien on your lake cabin and pay all of your legal fees."
I read the first page of the contract and laughed bitterly.
"In exchange for signing a brutal non-disclosure agreement and dropping my cooperation with the FBI."
The Chairman leaned forward, his eyes cold and calculating.
"Marcus is a cancer, and we are cutting him out of the company."
"But your public crusade is destroying the livelihoods of thousands of innocent employees."
"If the stock crashes completely, innocent people will lose their pensions."
He was trying to weaponize my own conscience against me.
"Marcus stole the pensions, not me."
"If I sign this paper, he will use his remaining wealth to slip through the cracks of the justice system."
I slid the unsigned contract back across the table.
"I will not take a single penny of your hush money."
"I am going to testify in open court, and I am going to tell the entire world exactly how the board ignored his crimes."
The Chairman's face hardened into a mask of pure fury.
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"You are making a very powerful, very dangerous enemy today."
"I have already survived the worst enemy imaginable," I replied, standing up and walking out the door.
