Chapter 133
Penelope’s POV
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Penelope sat in her office with a glass of wine, watching the security camera feeds she’d had discretely installed around the property. Most people didn’t know about them. Marcus certainly didn’t. But Penelope liked to stay informed about what was happening in her own building.
And right now, what was happening was absolutely delicious.
She watched Marcus walk back into the main penthouse from the guest house, his shoulders slumped, his expression troubled. He’d gone down there to kick Aurora out. Penelope had seen Elara’s little tantrum from her window earlier, seen the way she’d confronted Marcus.
But Marcus hadn’t kicked Aurora out. He’d been in there for over thirty minutes, which meant Aurora had played her trump card.
The sob story about being broke. About the Wellington business failing. About needing this deal to save her family.
Penelope smiled. Aurora was proving to be more useful than she’d anticipated.
Her phone buzzed with a text from Luca.
Luca: Just saw Marcus leaving the guest house. Looked stressed. What happened?
Penelope: Exactly what we wanted. Elara’s breaking. Marcus is torn. Aurora’s staying.
Luca: And the investor meeting?
Penelope: Everything’s in place. Two more days.
Penelope set down her phone and pulled up her laptop. She had work to do before tomorrow’s meeting with her inside contact.
There was a knock on her door exactly at 2 PM. Punctual. Good.
“Come in,” Penelope called.
The door opened and a man in his mid-forties walked in, wearing an expensive suit and carrying a leather briefcase. Gerald Chen had been working in Thorne Dynamics’ financial department for fifteen years. He was good at his job, underpaid for his talents, and deeply resentful of Marcus for passing him over for a promotion three years ago.
In other words, he was perfect.
“Mr. Chen,” Penelope said warmly, gesturing to the chair across from her desk. “Thank you for coming. Can I offer you a drink?”
“No, thank you. I can’t stay long. If anyone sees me here-”
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Chapter 133
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“No one will see you here. I’m very careful about these things.” Penelope sat down and folded her hands on her desk. “Do you have what I asked for?”
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Gerald opened his briefcase and pulled out a USB drive. “The altered financial reports. I’ve modified the quarterly earnings data, adjusted the projections, and inserted discrepancies in the revenue streams that will be obvious to anyone who’s paying attention.”
“But not obvious enough to be immediately traced back to tampering?”
“No. It will look like either gross incompetence or intentional fraud on Marcus’s part. The numbers are off just enough to create panic but not so much that it’s clearly sabotage.”
Penelope took the USB drive and plugged it into her laptop. “Walk me through it.”
Gerald moved around the desk to stand beside her, pointing at the screen as files opened. “Here’s the original report that Marcus approved. Revenue of $847 million for the quarter, profit margins at 23%, projected growth of 15% over the next fiscal year.”
“And the altered version?”
Gerald clicked to another file. “Revenue now shows $892 million, but when you cross-reference with the departmental breakdowns, the numbers don’t add up. There’s a $30 million discrepancy that appears to be hidden in offshore accounts.”
“Offshore accounts?” Penelope smiled. “That’s a nice touch.”
“It gets better. The profit margins are listed at 23% in the summary but 18% in the detailed analysis. And the growth projections reference markets that Thorne Dynamics doesn’t even operate in.”
“So it looks like Marcus is either cooking the books or has no idea what’s actually happening in his own company.”
“Exactly. And there’s more.” Gerald clicked through several more pages. “I’ve also inserted some emails into the system that suggest Marcus has been hiding losses from the board. Nothing explicit, just vague references to ‘moving numbers around’ and ‘keeping certain information quiet until after the investor meeting.””
Penelope felt a thrill of excitement. This was even better than she’d hoped. “Can this be traced back to you?”
“No. I used Marcus’s login credentials to make the changes. As far as the system is concerned, he’s the one who altered these files.”
“How did you get his credentials?”
“Keylogger on his office computer. Installed it months ago when I was doing routine IT maintenance. He has no idea.”
“And when the investigation starts after the investor meeting?”
“They’ll find that all changes were made from Marcus’s computer, using his login, during hours when he was documented as being in the office. There’s no way to prove it wasn’t him.”
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Penelope leaned back in her chair, satisfaction warming her from the inside out. “You’ve done excellent work. Mr. Chen.”
“About the payment-”
“Will be transferred to your offshore account within 24 hours of the investor meeting. As we discussed, $500,000 plus a guaranteed position as CFO once Marcus is removed and I take control of the company.”
Gerald nodded, though Penelope could see the greed and ambition warring with nervousness in his expression. “And you’re sure this will work? That the board will remove Marcus?”
“Once they see these reports, once they realize he’s either incompetent or fraudulent, they’ll have no choice. The shareholders will demand his removal. And with Marcus out, his 70% stake becomes vulnerable to redistribution based on the terms of the will.”
“Which benefits you and your husband.”
“Which benefits everyone who’s been waiting for Marcus to fail.” Penelope closed the laptop and handed the USB drive back to Gerald. “Load these reports into the presentation system before the investor meeting. Make sure they’re what comes up when Marcus presents.”
“It’s already done. The files are scheduled to automatically replace the originals two hours before the meeting starts. By the time Marcus realizes something’s wrong, he’ll already be in front of the investors.”
“Perfect.” Penelope stood and walked Gerald to the door. “Remember, after tomorrow we never had this conversation. We’ve never even met privately.”
“Understood.”
After Gerald left, Penelope returned to her desk and poured herself another glass of wine. She pulled up the altered financial reports on her computer and read through them again, admiring the subtle brilliance of the sabotage.
Marcus would walk into that investor meeting thinking he was presenting solid numbers. Thinking he was secure in his position. Thinking his marriage problems were the biggest threat to his happiness.
He had no idea.
Her phone buzzed again. This time it was Aurora.
Aurora: Marcus didn’t kick me out. I told him about the Wellington business failing. He feels guilty now.
Penelope: Good. Keep him feeling guilty. Keep him torn between you and Elara. I need him distracted for the next two days.
Aurora: What happens in two days?
Penelope: You’ll see. Just keep doing what you’re doing.
Penelope walked over to her window and looked down at the main penthouse where Marcus lived. The lights were on in the bedroom. She wondered if he and Elara were fighting again, or if they were trying to reconcile.
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Not that it mattered. In two days, their marriage would be the least of Marcus’s problems.
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55 VRHEDEN
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She thought about everything she’d set in motion. The altered financial reports that would make Marcus look incompetent or criminal. The seeds of doubt she’d planted with Aurora about the contract marriage. The chaos in Marcus’s personal life that would make him look unstable and distracted.
All of it was coming together perfectly.
Penelope had spent years playing the role of the dutiful stepmother, the widow who’d married into the Thorne family and accepted her place. Everyone underestimated her. Thought she was just after money, just a gold digger who’d gotten lucky.
They had no idea how smart she was. How patient. How willing to wait for exactly the right moment to strike.
And that moment was almost here.
She raised her wine glass to her reflection in the window. “To revenge,” she said softly. “And to taking everything that should have been mine from the beginning.”
Her phone buzzed one more time. A reminder she’d set for herself.
Two days until investor meeting.
Penelope smiled and took a long sip of her wine.
“Two days until Marcus’s world falls apart.”
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