“Three years ago, when Daniel first started asking your CFO about the international accounts, I placed a silent digital watermark on all corporate financial exports,” my father explained, a dark smile finally touching his lips. “Every time a document is downloaded or altered from your server, it embeds a hidden metadata string containing the exact IP address, device ID, and GPS coordinates of the user. If Daniel doctored those sheets, he did it from a device he owns.”
“Can we prove it to the board before 9:00 a.m.?”
“We can do better than that,” my father said, reaching for his coat. “We are going to pay a visit to the one person who can end this media circus right now. Someone who is currently sitting in a holding cell at the 13th Precinct, desperately waiting for his arraignment.”
The visitor’s room at the precinct smelled of industrial disinfectant and old sweat. I sat behind the scratched plexiglass divider, my hands folded neatly in my lap. My father stood in the corner, shadows obscuring his face, watching like a gargoyle.
When the metal door clicked open, Daniel walked in.
He looked terrible. His expensive custom suit was wrinkled and stained with dirt from the Gramercy steps. His hair was greasy, and his eyes were bloodshot, surrounded by dark circles of exhaustion. But when he saw me, the arrogance returned to his face like a reflex. He sneered, slumping into the metal chair opposite me and picking up the dirty plastic phone receiver.
I picked up mine.
“Come to beg for mercy, Em?” Daniel chuckled, his voice raspy. “You thought you were so smart changing those PINs. Look at the news. Your precious little shipping empire is bleeding out on the stock exchange. By noon, your board of directors is going to vote to strip you of your CEO title just to save their own skin.”
“You look tired, Daniel,” I said softly, my voice devoid of any anger. “Did Vanessa come visit you? Oh, wait. I saw the security footage. She took off in a cab the moment the handcuffs came out. I hear she left the sapphire necklace with the manager at Aurum House as collateral for the champagne you drank.”
Daniel’s jaw clenched, a vein throbbing in his temple. “Vanessa is loyal. She’s doing damage control with the press right now. By the time I walk out of here on bail, you’re going to sign a revised settlement giving me 50% of the corporate shares, or I will drop the rest of the offshore ledgers to the federal prosecutors.”
ly wide with a rare, suffocating fear.
