The cybersecurity specialist continued working while I stood beside my desk.
I kept my hands away from the keyboard.
The unfamiliar folder remained open on the screen, its name sitting there like an accusation.
Gavin stood behind Daniel, arms folded.
He looked less angry now.
He looked afraid.
The specialist asked me to confirm when I had last used the computer.
“Yesterday evening,” I said. “I was finishing the Whitcombe presentation.”
“What time did you leave?”
“Just before midnight.”
Gavin shifted.
I remembered him coming into my office late that night.
He had asked whether I was nearly finished, then complained that his wife was upset he’d missed dinner.
Now he claimed he hadn’t been there.
The specialist checked the transfer logs.
“The files were copied at 11:42 p.m.”
“That was when I was here,” I said.
“Was anyone else present?”
I looked at Gavin.
“He was.”
Gavin shook his head.
“You’re mistaken.”
“I remember your gray coat.”
“I left earlier.”
“You asked me to bring you coffee.”
He gave a short, dismissive laugh.
“That proves nothing.”
Daniel asked the specialist how the files had been transferred.
“An external storage device,” he replied.
Gavin immediately spoke.
“Anyone could have plugged in a drive.”
“Of course,” Daniel said.
The specialist continued checking the records.
Then he identified the device’s serial number.
Daniel asked the IT manager to inspect Gavin’s office.
Gavin objected, but Eleanor reminded him that the acquisition agreement gave Halston access to relevant company records.
A few minutes later, the IT manager returned with a small black flash drive.
It had been connected to Gavin’s desktop.
Gavin stared at it.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Nobody answered.
The specialist matched its serial number to the device used during the transfer.
The room went quiet.
Gavin began blaming the IT department.
Then he blamed me.
Then he insisted someone had planted the drive.
His explanations changed, but his fear did not.
Eleanor asked everyone else to leave.
Only Daniel, Gavin, and I remained.
Gavin sat down heavily.
Finally, he admitted that Richard Field had asked for information about the acquisition.
“He thought the valuation was too low,” Gavin said.
Eleanor looked at him.
“So you gave him confidential documents?”
“I gave him access.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“That is not a distinction that helps you.”
Gavin rubbed his face.
“I was protecting the company.”
A man appeared in the doorway.
“Our company,” he said.
It was Richard Field.
Gavin stood.
“Richard?”
Richard walked in and looked at the flash drive.
“I heard what happened.”
Gavin tried to explain, but Richard stopped him.
“You were protecting yourself.”
Richard still owned a substantial share of Mercer & Field.
He had stepped away from daily operations years earlier, after disagreements with Gavin about how employees were treated.
Their agreement allowed him to remove Gavin from control if serious misconduct occurred.
Richard placed the relevant document on the table.
Gavin read it twice.
Then he looked at me.
“Chris, tell him.”
I couldn’t believe he was asking.
“You fired me this morning.”
“That was a mistake.”
“No,” I said. “It was a decision.”
Richard suspended Gavin from his executive duties pending an investigation.
I expected to feel relieved.
Instead, I looked at the photograph of Sophie and Lucy beside my computer.
My daughters still needed their father to bring home a paycheck.
And now my name was attached to confidential files I had never opened.
Source: kaylestore.net
Click here to continue reading: PART 6: The Call Before the Collapse
The Morning My Boss Decided a Stranger’s Life Was Worth Less Than a Business Deal, and I Finally Learned What My Loyalty Was Worth
Part 5 of 13
