Chapter 6 - The Weight of the Ledger
“Back off, Marcus,” I commanded, my voice cutting through the tense air of the study with the absolute finality of a gavel falling.
Marcus froze, his hand hovering inches from his holster. He stared at me in disbelief, his eyes darting between my face and Clara, who was trembling against the mahogany desk. “Boss, you can’t be serious. The feds have our financials down to the last cent. If she didn't leak it, who did? There’s a rat in this house, and she’s the most recent variable.”
“She’s my blood,” I said, the words tasting foreign and heavy on my tongue, yet carrying an undeniable anchor of truth. “And if she wanted to bring me down, she wouldn't have spent the last eight months nursing my mother when she couldn't even stand up.”
Clara looked up at me, tears glistening on her eyelashes, shocked that I had drawn a line in the sand for her.
May you like
“Check the security logs again, Marcus,” I continued, turning my back on my enforcer. “Every terminal in this house requires my biometric key or a six-tier encrypted override. If the ledger was accessed, it wasn't copied with a flash drive in my office. It was pulled from an external port.”
Marcus swallowed hard, the anger in his posture shifting into reluctant obedience. “Yes, boss. I’ll run the diagnostic on the main server room right now.”
