Chapter 18 - A Lie That Finally Collapsed
Mark lowered the phone without ending the call.
The bank representative repeated his name twice before the line disconnected automatically.
Nobody spoke.
Even the rain outside seemed quieter.
Mark stared at the dark screen in his hand.
For years he had escaped every difficult situation by talking faster than everyone else, changing the subject, or blaming someone nearby.
Tonight, none of those tricks worked.
Rachel slowly gathered the financial documents into neat piles.
"Mr. Dawson," she said calmly, "I suggest you preserve every remaining record."
Mark laughed bitterly.
"You think I have records left?"
Vanessa answered before Rachel could.
"No."
"You destroyed most of them."
Emma looked confused.
"What does she mean?"
Vanessa folded her arms.
"When we were still partners, Mark insisted that paper records were old-fashioned."
Mark didn't look at her.
"He wanted everything digital."
Rachel nodded.
"Convenient."
Emma frowned.
"Why convenient?"
"Because digital records can disappear."
Mark suddenly raised his voice.
"I wasn't hiding anything!"
Rachel calmly slid another folder onto the table.
"Then perhaps you can explain why your accountant requested backups from three separate cloud servers last month."
Mark froze.
"You knew about that?"
"I know considerably more than you think."
Emma slowly sat down again.
She looked exhausted.
"Mark..."
"Did you really think nobody would notice?"
He rubbed his face.
"I was trying to keep everything together."
"No."
Vanessa shook her head.
"You were trying to keep your lies synchronized."
That sentence hung in the room.
Everyone understood exactly what she meant.
Mark hadn't been managing businesses.
He had been managing stories.
One version for banks.
Another for investors.
Another for Emma.
Another for me.
Another for himself.
Eventually, they all collided.
The apartment had simply become the place where every version finally met.
Rachel's phone vibrated.
She glanced at the screen.
"My investigator just replied."
She opened the message.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
"What now?" Mark asked.
Rachel looked directly at him.
"Someone visited your office this afternoon."
"So?"
"They found it empty."
Mark remained silent.
"The computers are gone."
Emma whispered,
"You sold them?"
"No."
Rachel continued reading.
"The furniture is gone."
Vanessa frowned.
"I thought you still had employees."
"So did I."
Rachel looked up.
"It appears every member of your staff resigned within the last six weeks."
Emma slowly covered her mouth.
"You told me everyone was working remotely."
Mark closed his eyes.
There was no point answering.
May you like
The truth had become larger than any excuse.
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