Chapter 61 The Whistleblower
The chairman's words hung in the air.
"The board has voted six to four to retain Sebastian Colton as CEO, pending completion of the internal investigation and implementation of enhanced oversight measures."
Harper felt her knees go weak. Sebastian remained standing, his expression carefully neutral.
"However," the chairman continued, "you are suspended from operational duties for sixty days while we audit the entire company. Marcus Hyland will serve as interim CEO."
Sebastian's jaw tightened. "Marcus has a conflict of interest. He's been actively working to remove me."
"Which is why his authority will be limited to day-to-day operations only. No major decisions without board approval." The chairman stood. "Mr. Colton, you should consider this a gift. Half this board wanted you removed permanently. Use these sixty days wisely."
After they left the boardroom, Sebastian pulled Harper into an empty conference room and collapsed into a chair.
"I kept my position," he said, sounding dazed. "Barely, but I kept it."
"You did." Harper sat beside him. "And you have sixty days to prove Morrison was acting alone."
"Sixty days with Marcus running my company. He'll undermine everything I've built."
"Then we make sure the investigation finishes before sixty days. We find proof Morrison acted alone and clear your name completely." Harper took his hand. "You're not doing this alone anymore. Remember?"
Sebastian pulled her close. "I love you. Did I say that already?"
"In the hallway. Right before we went back in."
"I want to say it again. I love you, Harper. Even with everything falling apart, that's the one thing I'm certain about."
"I love you too. And we're going to fix this."
They were gathering their things when Sebastian's phone buzzed. Unknown number. He almost ignored it, then something made him answer.
"Mr. Colton? My name is Rebecca Morrison. David Morrison's daughter."
Sebastian's expression shifted. He put the call on speaker so Harper could hear.
"What can I do for you, Ms. Morrison?"
"I need to meet with you. Today. I have information about my father's activities at Colton Industries. Information that will help your investigation." Her voice was young, nervous. "But I can't talk over the phone. Too many people watching."
"Watching? Ms. Morrison, are you in danger?"
"I don't know. Maybe. My father's been acting strange. Paranoid. He came back from the Bahamas last week and he's been making encrypted calls and burning documents." She paused. "I think he's planning something. Something that involves you."
Sebastian and Harper exchanged glances. "Where do you want to meet?"
"Pike Place Market. The coffee shop on the lower level. One hour. Come alone."
She hung up before Sebastian could respond.
"It could be a trap," Harper said immediately.
"Or it could be the break we need. Morrison's daughter reaching out the day after the board discovers the embezzlement? That's not coincidence."
"Exactly. Which is why it could be a trap. Morrison could be using his daughter to lure you somewhere."
Sebastian called Ryan. "I need a security team at Pike Place Market in forty-five minutes. And run a background check on Rebecca Morrison, David Morrison's daughter."
While Ryan worked, Sebastian and Harper drove to the market. Ryan's report came through as they parked.
"Rebecca Morrison, age twenty-four, recent graduate from UW business school. Clean record. No connection to any of the people who've attacked you before." Ryan paused. "But her father purchased a plane ticket to Singapore for tomorrow morning. One-way. Looks like he's planning to run."
"So Rebecca's either helping us or helping him escape." Sebastian checked his watch. "I have to go in. Stay here with the security team."
"Not a chance. We do this together."
They found the coffee shop with Ryan's team positioned discreetly around the market. Rebecca Morrison sat alone at a corner table, her hands wrapped around a coffee cup she wasn't drinking.
She was young, pretty, and looked terrified.
"Mr. Colton," she stood when they approached. "Thank you for coming."
"This is my wife, Harper. Anything you tell me, you tell her too."
Rebecca nodded and sat back down. "My father is leaving the country tomorrow. But before he goes, he's planning something. Something that will destroy you completely."
"What kind of something?" Sebastian asked.
"I don't know exactly. But I found this." She pulled out a flash drive. "It's encrypted files from his offshore accounts. Transaction records. Communications with someone he calls 'The Partner.' They've been planning this for years."
Sebastian took the flash drive. "Why are you giving this to me? He's your father."
"Because he's not the man I thought he was. I've been going through his things since he got back. Finding evidence of fraud and embezzlement and worse." Rebecca's voice shook. "He's been stealing from your company for a decade. And he's been working with someone inside Colton Industries to do it."
"Who's The Partner?"
"I don't know. The communications are coded. But whoever it is has access to everything. Your finances. Your schedule. Your personal life." She pushed the flash drive across the table. "I'm giving you this because it's the right thing to do. And because I need you to understand something."
"What?"
"My father didn't just steal money. He destroyed people who got too close to discovering what he was doing. Employees who asked questions disappeared. Whistleblowers were discredited. One person ended up dead in what looked like an accident."
Harper felt ice flood her veins. "Who?"
"I don't have names. Just documentation that suggests the pattern." Rebecca stood. "Please, Mr. Colton. Stop him before he hurts anyone else. And stop The Partner before they finish whatever they're planning."
She left quickly, disappearing into the market crowd.
Sebastian stared at the flash drive. "Morrison's been murdering people to cover up his embezzlement. And he has a partner inside my company."
"We need to get this to the police. And your IT department. Break the encryption and find out who The Partner is."
They took the drive to Ryan first, who immediately began working on the encryption. Within an hour, he had preliminary results.
"This is extensive," Ryan said, scrolling through files. "Years of communications between Morrison and someone with the username 'ColtonLegacy.' They've been coordinating since before you took over as CEO."
"ColtonLegacy," Sebastian repeated. "That sounds like someone with a family connection."
"Or someone who wants to destroy the Colton family legacy." Harper looked at the screen. "Can you trace the username to a specific person?"
"Working on it. But Harper, there's something else you should see." Ryan pulled up a different file. "This is a communication from three days ago. ColtonLegacy telling Morrison to accelerate the timeline because 'the pregnancy changes everything.'"
Harper's blood went cold. "They know about the baby."
"They know about everything. Your therapy sessions. Your dates. Your conversations at home." Ryan's expression was grim. "Someone very close to you is ColtonLegacy. Someone with intimate access to your lives."
Sebastian stood abruptly. "Pull up the communication logs. Every message. I want to know exactly what they've been planning."
What they found made Harper feel sick.
ColtonLegacy and Morrison had been coordinating attacks for years. The surveillance. The leaked documents. The forged contracts. All of it orchestrated by someone Sebastian trusted completely.
"They're planning something for tonight," Ryan said, reading the most recent message. "Something that will 'eliminate the primary obstacle permanently.' That's you, Sebastian. They're planning to kill you."
"Then we set a trap. Let them think they're succeeding while we're ready for them." Sebastian turned to Harper. "But you need to leave. Go somewhere safe until this is over."
"No. We agreed. Together."
"Harper, they mentioned the pregnancy. They're not just targeting me anymore. I can't let you and our baby be collateral damage."
"And I can't let you face this alone. We're in this together. All the way."
Before Sebastian could argue, Ryan's computer pinged with an alert.
"I've got something. The IP address for ColtonLegacy traces to..." Ryan's face went pale. "It can't be right."
"Who is it?" Sebastian demanded.
Ryan turned the screen to show them.
The IP address belonged to a device registered to someone they'd both trusted from the beginning.
Someone who'd had access to everything.
Someone neither of them had ever suspected.
Harper stared at the name on the screen, her mind refusing to process what she was seeing.
"No," she whispered. "That's impossible."
But the evidence was right there.
ColtonLegacy, the person who'd been orchestrating their destruction for years, was someone they saw almost every day.
Someone who knew all their vulnerabilities.
Someone who'd been playing them from the very start.
And tonight, that person was planning to finish what they'd started.
Sebastian's phone buzzed with a text from
the same person whose name was on the screen.
"Dinner tonight? My place. 7 PM. I have something important to tell you both."
It was an invitation.
Or a trap.