Chapter 5 - Unraveling the Silk Thread
Two hours after the disastrous board meeting, Darius sat in his private office, clutching a glass of straight bourbon. The doors were locked, but he could hear the hushed, terrified whispers of his staff outside. The board had officially suspended his voting power pending an emergency internal investigation, and Apex Capital had frozen the forty-million-dollar funding round.
A soft knock sounded at his private side entrance.
Darius rushed over and pulled the door open, expecting to see his corporate defense lawyers. Instead, Leila stood in the doorway, carrying a designer tote bag filled with her personal belongings.
“Darius, we need to leave,” Leila breathed, her voice laced with panic. “The board’s lawyers are requisitioning my laptop. They’re sub-poenaing my bank accounts! You told me those transfers were hidden! You swore Noel didn't know anything about LVM Strategy!”
Darius grabbed Leila’s arm, his fingers digging into her skin with terrifying force. “Shut up, Leila! You keep your mouth shut, or you’re going down with me! You took the money! Your signature is on those offshore accounts, not mine!”
Leila froze, staring at him as if seeing him clearly for the first time. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me,” Darius hissed, his face twisted into an ugly mask. “I was the CEO giving orders. You were the officer who executed the transactions. If the SEC steps in, you’re the one going to federal prison for grand larceny. So you are going to go back out there, tell the board Noel framed us, and fix this!”
Leila pulled her arm away, taking a slow step back into the hallway.
“You really are a monster,” she whispered, tears cutting through her foundation. “Noel was right about you.”
“Leila, wait!” Darius stepped forward, but Leila backed away into the elevator bank.
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What Darius didn't know was that forty-five minutes earlier, Noel had met Leila in the parking garage below the building. Noel hadn't attacked Leila. She hadn't thrown insults or brought up the silk dress. Noel had simply handed Leila a business card for a top criminal defense attorney and said five words: “He will let you take the fall.”
Now, standing in the corridor, Leila pulled out her phone, pressed Noel’s number, and whispered into the speaker: “I have the master passwords to his private offshore server. Meet me in twenty minutes.”
