Chapter 7 - The Midnight Audit
By 1:00 AM, the grand lobby was quiet, but Henry was far from resting in his penthouse suite.
Accompanied by Leo and a trusted veteran accountant named Sarah, Henry slipped into the subterranean records vault.
The basement of the hotel was cool and smelled of dusty paper, old leather binders, and ozone from heavy server racks.
Sarah pulled up the digital financial archives on a secure terminal while Henry sat beside her, reviewing physical ledgers.
As the pages turned, Henry's expression darkened from sad disappointment into pure, unadulterated outrage.
"Look at these shell companies, Mr. Brooks," Sarah whispered, pointing her pen at dozens of wire transfers to the Cayman Islands.
"Over the last four years, Richard Sterling has routed over two hundred million dollars out of our employee pension funds."
"He starved the hotel operations, cut staff benefits, and reduced food budgets to inflate corporate profit margins on paper."
Leo gasped as he read the numbers. "They cut our health insurance so they could buy private jets for the board members!"
Henry slammed his fist onto the wooden desk, the loud crack echoing off the concrete walls of the underground vault.
"They didn't just ruin the service," Henry growled, his jaw clenching with immense anger. "They robbed the working families who built this company!"
Suddenly, the heavy steel security door of the records vault clicked sharply, the electronic lock engaging with a loud hum.
The overhead lights flickered once, twice, and then shut off completely, plunging the basement into absolute darkness.
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"Mr. Brooks?!" Leo shouted in the dark, his voice laced with sudden panic.
A thick, sweet-smelling gas began hissing softly through the air ventilation grates high on the basement wall.
