Chapter 7 - The Boardroom Coup
The emergency board meeting was a bloodbath.
Richard sat at the conference table, flanked by wealthy shareholders, looking like a king waiting for his crown. Eleanor sat rigid, her jaw clenched, refusing to show fear.
"The facts are simple," Richard announced, standing up. "Eleanor has lost her objectivity. She has entrusted millions in R&D to a man whose only qualification is wielding a mop. It is a dereliction of duty. I motion for an immediate vote of no confidence."
"I second the motion," an older board member agreed.
Before Eleanor could speak, the double doors of the boardroom swung open.
I walked in. I wasn't wearing a suit. I was wearing my old navy blue maintenance uniform, holding my metal toolbox.
"Security!" Richard barked. "Get this janitor out of here!"
"I'm not here to clean," I said, dropping the heavy toolbox onto the polished mahogany table with a loud BANG.
I opened it, pulled out a thick stack of manila folders, and tossed them across the table.
"I spent ten years fixing the vents, the wiring, and the servers in this building," I said to the shocked board members. "When Richard here ordered the IT team to wipe the servers in his office last night to cover his tracks, he forgot one thing. The HVAC control system in the executive wing runs on a secondary legacy server that I patched myself three years ago. It automatically backs up every keystroke logged on the executive floor."
Richard’s face turned the color of chalk.
"Inside those folders," I continued, "is undeniable proof that Richard leaked proprietary company secrets to the press, committed corporate sabotage, and intentionally shorted Vance Dynamics stock two days before the article dropped to make a personal profit of four million dollars."
The room went dead silent. The board members scrambled to open the folders, their eyes widening as they read the hard data.
"It's a lie!" Richard screamed, backing away from the table. "He fabricated it!"
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Eleanor stood up, the aura of the untouchable CEO returning in full force.
"You're fired, Richard," she said, her voice dripping with absolute ice. "And my lawyers have already forwarded this data to the SEC. You won't just lose your job. You will lose your freedom."
