Chapter 10 - The Secret Maintenance Logs Reveal a Terrifying Corporate Coverup
By late afternoon, federal investigators had seized every server, hard drive, and filing cabinet at Veyron’s regional office.
Celeste Larkin’s legal team received an encrypted data drop containing internal corporate emails dating back three years.
The penthouse living room had been transformed into a makeshift war room, littered with printed financial spreadsheets and legal briefs.
Dr. Mara Voss had been escorted out of the building hours earlier, her career permanently destroyed by her own complicity.
Piper sat at the large glass dining table, scrolling through a downloaded PDF containing internal engineering memos.
Her fingers hovered over a highlighted memo dated fourteen months prior, right before she took delivery of the machine.
She read the words aloud into the quiet stillness of the penthouse:
“Subject: Right Knee Hinge Tolerance Drift on Prototype Batch B-4.”
Celeste looked up from her laptop across the table, her eyes narrowing as she processed the incriminating date.
“That was six months before you ever sat in that exoskeleton,” Celeste noted grimly.
“They knew the batch was defective before they even shipped it to us,” Piper whispered, her voice trembling with cold fury.
She scrolled down to read the subsequent replies from Veyron’s executive vice president of manufacturing:
“Recalling batch B-4 will cost four point two million in write-downs and delay our NASDAQ IPO launch.”
“Push the units to high-net-worth clients with intensive physical therapy protocols; if patients experience pain, blame muscular adaptation failure.”
The corporate cynicism was breathtaking in its sheer, unmitigated cruelty.
They had deliberately weaponized patient self-doubt to protect their stock price and executive bonus structures.
“Four point two million dollars,” Celeste murmured, her voice carrying the terrifying stillness of a dormant volcano.
“They gambled with your physical recovery to pad their quarterly earnings report.”
Piper closed the laptop lid with a soft thud, leaning back in her wheelchair as a profound realization washed over her.
For eleven months, she had blamed the car crash for stealing her independence and destroying her athletic future.
Today, she realized something much darker: the crash had only broken her bones; Veyron had tried to break her spirit.
“Mom,” Piper said, her voice remarkably calm and resolute.
“I want to press criminal negligence charges against every single executive named in these memos.”
Celeste reached across the glass table, placing her warm, manicured hand over Piper’s trembling fingers.
“Not just criminal charges, sweetheart,” Celeste promised, a cold smile touching the corners of her mouth.
“We are going to initiate a hostile takeover of Veyron Adaptive Mobility by Friday morning.”
Piper stared at her mother in sheer astonishment, recognizing the terrifying business genius that had built their empire.
“A hostile takeover? Can we even do that?”
“Veyron’s stock dropped twelve percent the moment federal marshals raided their headquarters this morning,” Celeste explained smoothly.
“Their valuation is bleeding out, and our family trust holds substantial venture capital debt against their primary manufacturing plant.”
The telephone on the central console rang sharply, breaking the intense focus of the room.
Celeste answered on speakerphone with a crisp, commanding tone.
“Larkin.”
It was her chief financial officer calling from Wall Street with an urgent market update.
“Ms. Larkin, Veyron’s board of directors just held an emergency conference call to discuss the federal raid,” the CFO reported.
“They are desperately looking for a white knight investor to rescue their stock from total collapse.”
Celeste leaned back in her leather executive chair, a triumphant glint shining brightly in her dark eyes.
“Tell them the white knight they’re looking for is currently sitting in my penthouse living room,” Celeste instructed.
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“And let them know we’ll be buying them out at pennies on the dollar.”
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