Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Started It All Broke FirstWhile Michael's attorneys scrambled to contain the growing legal crisis, another drama was unfolding inside Carter Global's Human Resources office.
Brittany Adams had been waiting for nearly two hours.
Her company laptop, access badge, and phone had already been collected.
No one offered coffee.
No one tried to reassure her.
At exactly 10:40 a.m., the door opened.
HR Director Melissa Grant entered with General Counsel David Reynolds.
A digital recorder was placed on the table.
"Ms. Adams," David began, "this meeting concerns your employment and your cooperation in an ongoing investigation."
Brittany swallowed.
"I've already told everyone—I didn't do anything illegal."
"No one said you did."
Melissa slid a stack of documents across the table.
"We'd simply like you to explain these."
Brittany glanced down.
Hotel reservations.
Credit card statements.
Photographs.
Bank transfers.
Then she reached the final page.
A luxury apartment lease.
Her signature appeared at the bottom.
"I... Michael helped me."
"Helped you," David repeated. "With company funds?"
"I didn't know where the money came from."
"Perhaps not."
He placed another document on top.
"This is an email you sent to a vendor after Michael instructed you to change the invoice description."
Brittany's eyes widened.
"I was just following orders."
David remained calm.
"That may be true. But following orders doesn't erase records."
For the first time since the scandal broke, Brittany realized she wasn't simply the other woman.
She was a witness.
And witnesses could become defendants.
Tears filled her eyes.
"I never wanted any of this."
Melissa looked at her steadily.
"You sent Mrs. Carter photographs from her own bedroom."
Brittany lowered her head.
"You mocked her."
"You taunted her."
"You tried to humiliate her."
Brittany began to sob.
"I thought he'd leave her."
David closed the folder.
"He may still."
"But it won't be because of you."
An hour later, Brittany stepped out of the HR office carrying a small cardboard box.
Unlike Michael, there were no cameras waiting outside.
No reporters recognized her.
But inside the building, everyone knew.
The ambitious employee whose promotion had seemed impossibly fast was gone.
Meanwhile, several miles away, Claire received another call from Ryan.
"It's happening."
"What is?"
"Brittany's attorney just contacted the investigators."
Claire remained silent.
"They're asking about immunity."
Ryan paused before adding, "She wants to cooperate."
Claire looked out across the Manhattan skyline.
She had expected Brittany to protect Michael.
Instead, the pressure had cracked her in less than forty-eight hours.
"Do you think she'll tell them everything?" Ryan asked.
Claire answered without hesitation.
"No."
Ryan frowned.
"No?"
"She'll tell them everything she knows."
Claire set down her phone and closed the file she had been reading.
"But Michael has spent years hiding things from everyone."
Including Brittany.
Including the Board.
Even including his own lawyers.
If the investigators believed the affair was the whole story, they were looking in the wrong direction.
Because buried beneath the financial records Claire had already surrendered...
...was one confidential acquisition file.
A file proving that someone inside Carter Global had been secretly selling the company's most valuable trade secrets to its biggest international competitor.
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And the signature authorizing the first transfer...
Was Michael Carter's..
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