Chapter 6 - The Viper in the Nest
The two regional directors practically tripped over each other rushing out of the office, slamming the heavy oak doors shut behind them.
Julian didn't look at the folder immediately. He leaned back in his leather chair, steepling his fingers, his dark eyes locked onto Scarlett’s face with an unsettling intensity.
"Marcus is my blood, Miss Monroe," Julian said slowly, his voice deceptively soft. "Accusing my chief operations officer of embezzlement is not a game you play to prove how fast you can audit a ledger."
"I don't play games, Mr. Vance," Scarlett retorted, leaning her hands flat against his desk, mirroring the exact posture she had used in the diner days ago. "Math doesn't lie. Look at the routing numbers on page four. Apex Logistics isn't a shipping front; it's a private clearinghouse registered in the British Virgin Islands under an LLC whose secondary beneficiary is Marcus Vance's personal Swiss trust."
Julian slowly reached out, picked up the red folder, and opened it.
For five minutes, the room was completely silent. Julian’s eyes moved across the printed data trails, line by line, tracking the digital footprints of a betrayal that had been operating under his nose for over two years.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. The rigid, carved lines of Julian’s jaw hardened into something resembling cold stone.
"He thought I was distracted," Julian murmured, more to himself than to her. "He thought expanding into the warehouse district would leave the back door open."
"He didn't just leave a back door open," Scarlett said quietly. "He handed the keys to your rivals. If you don't freeze those accounts within the hour, the transfer completes, and he disappears to Zurich."
Julian looked up from the folder. A strange, dark light flickered in his eyes—a mixture of lethal fury and profound, unexpected respect.
"You found in four days what my internal audit team missed in four years," Julian said softly. He picked up his secure desk phone. "Arthur. Get security down to the logistics wing. Secure Marcus’s office, lock his terminals, and bring him to my study. Now."
He hung up the phone, stood up from his desk, and walked slowly toward Scarlett.
She didn't step back. Despite the terrifying aura of raw power radiating from him, she stood her ground.
"You are a remarkably dangerous woman, Scarlett Monroe," Julian said, stopping just inches away from her.
May you like
"I'm just good at math," she replied evenly.
"No," Julian whispered, a faint, rare smile touching the corner of his lips. "You're a survivor. And survivors don't belong behind diner counters."
