My Boss's Hidden Heir (Elara and Marcus) novel Chapter 136

Chapter 136

Marcus’s POV

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“No,” Marcus said firmly, looking Robert Morrison directly in the eye. “I am not hiding losses from this board. I have never hidden losses. I have never committed fraud. And I did not create these reports.”

“Then who did?” Robert asked.

“I don’t know yet. But I intend to find out.” Marcus pulled his laptop from his briefcase and opened it on the conference table. “Give me five minutes. Let me pull up the original files from my personal backup.”

“We don’t have time for this-” Lisa started, but Robert held up his hand.

“Five minutes. Let’s see what he has.”

Marcus’s fingers flew across the keyboard, pulling up his personal cloud storage where he kept backup copies of everything. He found the investor presentation folder and opened the files.

The numbers were different. Completely different from what was showing on the screen behind him.

“Here,” Marcus turned his laptop so everyone at the table could see. “These are the original reports I prepared. Revenue of $847 million, not $892 million. Profit margins consistent at 23% across all analyses. No references to offshore accounts or markets we don’t operate in.”

“Those could be fabricated-” Thomas started.

“Check the timestamps,” Dante interjected, moving closer to the table. “Look at when those files were created versus when the altered versions were uploaded to the presentation system.”

Marcus pulled up the file properties. “My originals were created and finalized six days ago. The versions in the presentation system were modified last night at 11:47 PM.”

“When you claim you didn’t send them,” Lisa said skeptically.

“Because I didn’t. I was home last night. Ask my wife, ask security, check my building’s access logs. I didn’t come to the office.”

“You could have logged in remotely.”

“Then check the IP address! See where the login came from!”

Robert Morrison looked at Thomas Bradford. “Can we verify this? Pull the IT logs?”

“We can, but it’ll take time.”

“Then we take the time.” Robert turned back to Marcus. “If what you’re saying is true, if someone has deliberately sabotaged this presentation, that’s a serious crime. Corporate espionage. Fraud. We need to involve authorities.”

16:56 Mon, May 11

Chapter 136

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“I agree.” Marcus said. “I want a full investigation. I want to know exactly who accessed my account, when, and from where. I want every modification to these files tracked and documented.”

“And in the meantime?” Lisa asked. “What do we do about this meeting? About the quarterly report?”

“We postpone,” Robert said. “Until we can verify which numbers are accurate and which are fabricated. I move to suspend this meeting pending investigation.”

“Seconded,” Thomas said.

The room erupted again, but this time the energy was different. Less accusatory toward Marcus, more focused on figuring out what had actually happened.

Penelope stood up from her corner seat. “I think we’re all overreacting,” she said, her voice calm and reasonable. “Marcus has been under a lot of stress lately. Personal problems, marital issues. Perhaps he simply made a mistake-”

“This isn’t a mistake,” Dante cut her off. “You don’t accidentally alter dozens of financial documents and insert references to offshore accounts. This is deliberate sabotage.”

Penelope smiled slightly. “Of course. I’m just saying we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about outside interference when the simpler explanation might be human error combined with stress.”

Marcus stared at her. She was doing it. Right here in front of everyone, she was planting seeds of doubt about his competence while pretending to defend him.

“There was no human error,” Marcus said coldly. “And my personal life has no bearing on my ability to do my job.”

“Doesn’t it?” Penelope tilted her head. “You’ve seemed quite distracted lately. Anyone would understand given

the circumstances-”

“What circumstances?” Robert asked.

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