Chapter 11 - The Saboteur
Six weeks passed. Leo’s health improved drastically under the new treatments, and Clara’s career at Apex Pinnacle skyrocketed. Her financial models were saving the company millions, catching the eye of the board of directors.
But not everyone was happy.
Richard, the Senior VP of Accounting, was furious. A former janitor was outshining him, and worse, the office rumor mill was whispering about Clara’s late-night dinners with Julian Hayes. Richard despised the idea that Clara was sleeping her way to the top—which was how his twisted mind rationalized her brilliance.
Apex was preparing to acquire a massive European steel company. It was Julian’s passion project, a billion-dollar merger. Clara was tasked with compiling the final risk assessment ledger.
On a Friday evening, Clara locked her computer and left for the night.
Ten minutes later, Richard slipped into her cubicle. He carried a highly specialized thumb drive containing a backdoor code. He bypassed Clara’s basic security password and opened the master ledger for the European merger.
With a few malicious keystrokes, Richard altered the debt-to-income ratio of the steel company, hiding a toxic liability of fifty million dollars. He saved the file, wiped his digital footprint, and slipped away into the shadows.
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If Julian presented that ledger to the board on Monday, the acquisition would eventually go through, the toxic debt would detonate, and Julian’s reputation would be destroyed. And all the blame would fall squarely on the girl who compiled the report: Clara Vance.
Richard smiled to himself in the elevator mirror. By Monday afternoon, the little janitor would be fired, sued for gross negligence, and thrown back into the gutter where she belonged.
