Chapter 14 - Victor Chooses People Over Reputation
The Wellington Global board wanted Victor to resign.
Not because he had committed wrongdoing.
Because scandal made investors nervous.
Three directors argued a temporary departure would “stabilize perception.”
Victor listened.
Then asked one question.
“Did any of you know Thomas was collecting private information from executives?”
Silence.
One director admitted he had suspected.
Another said Thomas had once threatened him with photographs from an affair.
Victor stared.
“You never reported it?”
The man looked ashamed.
“I had a family.”
“So did my father.”
Nobody answered.
Victor did not resign.
Instead, he dissolved the internal security division Thomas had built.
He hired an independent outside firm.
Opened historical records to investigators.
Created whistleblower protections controlled outside executive management.
And removed two directors who had concealed Thomas’s intimidation.
The stock dropped again.
Then stabilized.
Truth was expensive.
So was rot.
Charles remained vice chairman temporarily.
He offered to resign.
Victor refused.
“You made mistakes.”
Charles nodded.
“I signed the maintenance order.”
“Because Dad asked you to keep Thomas calm.”
“I still should have told you after.”
“Yes.”
Charles looked surprised.
Victor continued.
“You don’t have to disappear because you failed.”
That sentence was as much for Victor as Charles.
Margaret began seeing a grief counselor.
For eleven years, she had worn evidence around her neck and fear around everything else.
Removing both took time.
Lucy returned to work.
Not at the restaurant.
It remained closed during the investigation.
Victor offered her a corporate position.
She declined.
He offered again.
She declined again.
“What do you actually want?” he asked.
Lucy thought.
“To finish school.”
She had left college two years earlier when her mother developed kidney problems.
She wanted to complete a degree in forensic accounting.
Victor smiled.
“Of course you do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.”
“You sound smug.”
“I’m a billionaire. It happens.”
She laughed.
It was the first easy moment between them.
Victor offered to fund a scholarship in Michael Carter’s name rather than pay Lucy directly.
She agreed only if it was open to other working students too.
He accepted.
The Michael Carter Integrity Scholarship launched six months later.
Its first class included twelve students.
Lucy was not one of them.
She refused to compete for a fund created partly because of her father.
Victor paid her tuition another way.
He hired her part-time as a paid research assistant for the independent historical audit.
Lucy protested.
Victor showed her the market salary.
She accepted.
“Technically,” he said, “you work for the auditors, not me.”
“Good.”
“You’re difficult.”
“So I’ve been told.”
The federal case against Thomas grew.
Prosecutors charged him with racketeering, fraud, obstruction, bribery, conspiracy, and offenses connected to Arthur’s death.
The exact homicide charges required careful legal work because of the age and complexity of the evidence.
Victor learned patience.
He stopped asking investigators for daily updates.
Mostly.
One evening, he visited the restaurant.
It had reopened under interim management.
Robert was gone.
Thomas’s ownership interest had been frozen.
Lucy was there only to collect her old locker contents.
Margaret sat at table fourteen.
The same table.
Victor joined her.
Lucy approached.
“For once, I’m not working.”
Margaret smiled.
“Sit.”
Lucy did.
A new server brought water.
Margaret thanked him.
Victor noticed.
His mother noticed him noticing.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She smiled.
“You’re becoming sentimental.”
“Don’t tell the board.”
Lucy laughed.
For a few minutes, nobody mentioned Arthur.
Michael.
Thomas.
Pearls.
Court.
They ate.
Margaret complained the soup needed salt.
Victor disagreed.
Lucy sided with Margaret.
It was ordinary.
That was the point.
Then Margaret reached into her purse.
She placed the repaired necklace on the table.
Twelve pearls again.
Victor stared.
“You replaced it?”
“Yes.”
“What’s inside the new pearl?”
Margaret smiled.
“Nothing.”
Lucy picked it up.
“Are you sure?”
Margaret looked offended.
“Absolutely.”
May you like
Victor laughed.
For the first time in eleven years, the necklace was only jewelry.
