The door closed.
CHAPTER 5
Victoria didn't approach.
Instead she stood around the corner.
Ten minutes later, Denise emerged with tears in her eyes.
Victoria waited until Sandra returned to her office.
Then she approached Denise.
“What happened?”
Denise shook her head.
“Nothing.”
“Denise.”
The woman looked exhausted.
“She said I was replaceable.”
“Why?”
“I asked why our hours had been cut.”
Victoria's expression changed.
“How many hours?”
“Thirty-five down to twenty-four.”
“Why?”
“She said the company needed to control costs.”
Victoria nodded.
“And did management cut executive expenses too?”
Denise laughed.
“No.”
That single word told Victoria more than a report could.
She went downstairs.
She asked Mark to send her the acquisition due-diligence files.
Within minutes, her phone buzzed.
She opened the compensation reports.
Support staff salaries had fallen.
Executive compensation had increased.
Travel expenses had increased.
Consulting fees had increased.
One consulting company appeared repeatedly.
Keller Strategic Operations LLC.
Victoria frowned.
Richard Keller.
She searched deeper.
The company was registered to Richard's brother.
Payments had been made monthly.
For three years.
Total:
$4.8 million.
Victoria leaned back.
That wasn't a culture problem.
That was potentially fraud.
She called Mark.
“Do you remember the consulting company flagged during due diligence?”
“Yes.”
“Why wasn't it investigated?”
“It was listed as an operational consulting vendor.”
“Who approved it?”
“Richard Keller.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“And who owned it?”
“His brother.”
Silence.
Mark finally asked:
“Victoria, what exactly are you doing?”
She looked at the screen.
“I'm finding out what I bought.”
By noon, Victoria had enough information to know she couldn't simply walk into the boardroom and announce herself.
If she did, everyone would immediately change.
They would become polite.
Careful.
Helpful.
And dishonest.
She needed the truth before the truth became inconvenient.
So she stayed undercover.
At lunch, she sat in the cafeteria.
A group of employees nearby were discussing promotions.
One young engineer said:
“I applied for team lead.”
Another asked:
“What happened?”
“They told me I wasn't a cultural fit.”
“What does that mean?”
He shrugged.
“No idea.”
A woman across from him whispered:
“It means someone already had the job.”
They laughed bitterly.
Victoria listened.
Later, she met a senior software engineer named Marcus Reed.
He was forty-one.
Black.
Highly respected technically.
But still a senior engineer after eleven years.
“You've never wanted management?”
Marcus laughed.
“Twice.”