The cybersecurity specialist continued working while I stood beside my desk.<\/p>\n
I kept my hands away from the keyboard.<\/p>\n
The unfamiliar folder remained open on the screen, its name sitting there like an accusation.<\/p>\n
Gavin stood behind Daniel, arms folded.<\/p>\n
He looked less angry now.<\/p>\n
He looked afraid.<\/p>\n
The specialist asked me to confirm when I had last used the computer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday evening,\u201d I said. \u201cI was finishing the Whitcombe presentation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat time did you leave?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust before midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gavin shifted.<\/p>\n
I remembered him coming into my office late that night.<\/p>\n
He had asked whether I was nearly finished, then complained that his wife was upset he\u2019d missed dinner.<\/p>\n
Now he claimed he hadn\u2019t been there.<\/p>\n
The specialist checked the transfer logs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe files were copied at 11:42 p.m.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was when I was here,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas anyone else present?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Gavin.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gavin shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re mistaken.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember your gray coat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI left earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou asked me to bring you coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n
He gave a short, dismissive laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat proves nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel asked the specialist how the files had been transferred.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn external storage device,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n
Gavin immediately spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone could have plugged in a drive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course,\u201d Daniel said.<\/p>\n
The specialist continued checking the records.<\/p>\n
Then he identified the device\u2019s serial number.<\/p>\n
Daniel asked the IT manager to inspect Gavin\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Gavin objected, but Eleanor reminded him that the acquisition agreement gave Halston access to relevant company records.<\/p>\n
A few minutes later, the IT manager returned with a small black flash drive.<\/p>\n
It had been connected to Gavin\u2019s desktop.<\/p>\n
Gavin stared at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody answered.<\/p>\n
The specialist matched its serial number to the device used during the transfer.<\/p>\n
The room went quiet.<\/p>\n
Gavin began blaming the IT department.<\/p>\n
Then he blamed me.<\/p>\n
Then he insisted someone had planted the drive.<\/p>\n
His explanations changed, but his fear did not.<\/p>\n
Eleanor asked everyone else to leave.<\/p>\n
Only Daniel, Gavin, and I remained.<\/p>\n
Gavin sat down heavily.<\/p>\n
Finally, he admitted that Richard Field had asked for information about the acquisition.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe thought the valuation was too low,\u201d Gavin said.<\/p>\n
Eleanor looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you gave him confidential documents?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI gave him access.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s voice hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not a distinction that helps you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gavin rubbed his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was protecting the company.\u201d<\/p>\n
A man appeared in the doorway.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur company,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It was Richard Field.<\/p>\n
Gavin stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard?\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard walked in and looked at the flash drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gavin tried to explain, but Richard stopped him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were protecting yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard still owned a substantial share of Mercer & Field.<\/p>\n
He had stepped away from daily operations years earlier, after disagreements with Gavin about how employees were treated.<\/p>\n
Their agreement allowed him to remove Gavin from control if serious misconduct occurred.<\/p>\n
Richard placed the relevant document on the table.<\/p>\n
Gavin read it twice.<\/p>\n
Then he looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cChris, tell him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t believe he was asking.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou fired me this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cIt was a decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard suspended Gavin from his executive duties pending an investigation.<\/p>\n
I expected to feel relieved.<\/p>\n
Instead, I looked at the photograph of Sophie and Lucy beside my computer.<\/p>\n
My daughters still needed their father to bring home a paycheck.<\/p>\n
And now my name was attached to confidential files I had never opened.<\/p>\n
Source: kaylestore.net<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n 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 … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sharestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10772,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10759\/revisions\/10772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nClick here to continue reading: PART 6: The Call Before the Collapse<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"