Marcus Comes Clean
Chapter 08 - Marcus Comes Clean
Marcus arrived at Priya’s office with his own lawyer.
The lawyer, Elaine Mercer, had represented executives through enough corporate scandals to know when charm would be insulting. She wore a navy dress, carried one thin folder, and did not offer anyone her business card.
“We’re here to discuss cooperation,” she said.
Priya gestured toward the conference table.
“Cooperation starts with accuracy.”
Marcus sat across from Claire.
His face looked thinner than it had four days earlier.
Elaine opened the folder.
“My client acknowledges participating in an improper attempt to alter executive control. He denies knowledge of unauthorized data transfers.”
Claire watched Marcus.
“Say it yourself.”
Elaine glanced at him.
Marcus folded his hands.
“Richard wanted you removed, and I knew it. He was gathering support. I also knew he planned to make me interim CEO.”
“Did you know the vote was invalid?”
“No.”
“Did you read the updated cap table?”
“I opened the email. I didn’t review the attachment.”
Priya wrote that down.
Marcus continued.
“I accepted the consulting payment because Richard said North Gate needed an operations analysis for a company in transition.”
“Did you suspect the company was Lumen?” Claire asked.
“Yes.”
The honesty made the room quieter.
“Why take the money?”
He rubbed his thumb against his wedding band.
“Because I wanted the work to be worth something on its own.”
Claire’s mouth tightened.
“You were paid three hundred twenty thousand dollars last year.”
“That was Lumen money approved by a board that saw me as your appointment.”
“So you took secret money from Richard to feel independent.”
“When you say it like that…”
“How should I say it?”
Marcus looked down.
“There isn’t a better way.”
Elaine stepped in.
“My client can provide communications, meeting dates, and context for Richard’s campaign against Ms. Bennett.”
Priya leaned back.
“What does he want?”
“Continued salary during administrative leave, company-funded counsel within policy limits, and consideration of cooperation before any referral concerning the laptop.”
Claire looked at the man she had trusted with a home, a company, and the ordinary details of her life.
“What did Richard tell you about me?”
Marcus’s eyes lifted.
“He said you’d become obsessed with control. Investors were losing confidence, according to him. He also said you were preparing to replace me after the next quarter.”
“Did you ask me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid you’d say yes.”
There it was.
Weakness, not confusion.
He had chosen the story that made his betrayal feel defensive.
Claire turned her ring once, then stopped.
“What did Richard ask you to do besides organize the vote?”
“Build support. Meet with Gerald and Mei. Give him information about which directors were frustrated.”
“Access legal?”
“No.”
“Share your badge?”
“No.”
“Give him access to our house?”
Marcus frowned.
“He came over twice.”
“When?”
He gave the dates.
One matched the night before his cloned badge appeared in legal.
Priya and Claire exchanged a look.
Marcus saw it.
“What?”
“Where was your badge?” Claire asked.
“In my desk.”
“Was Richard alone near it?”
“I went upstairs to take a call.”
Elaine closed her eyes briefly.
Marcus’s face changed as he understood.
“He copied it.”
“Possibly,” Priya said.
“He told me he needed the bathroom.”
Claire felt no satisfaction.
Only exhaustion.
Marcus leaned forward.
“I can show you where Richard sat. Maybe there are fingerprints or camera records.”
Priya shook her head.
“Do not go to the house. Do not touch the desk. We’ll preserve the alarm system and ask a forensic technician to inspect the badge reader and home network.”
“It’s my house.”
“It’s also a possible evidence location,” Elaine said.
Marcus rubbed both hands over his face.
“I keep finding new ways I helped him.”
Claire heard the beginning of self-pity and cut it off.
“Then be useful now. List every visit, every device he touched, every document you showed him. Don’t decide what matters.”
He nodded.
For the next hour, Marcus worked through a calendar on Elaine’s laptop. He recalled dinners, car rides, and two weekends when Richard used the home office printer.
Each memory looked smaller than a crime. Together, they created access.
One entry stood out. Richard had borrowed Marcus’s laptop charger during a dinner and remained alone in the study for twelve minutes. The date matched the creation of the cloned badge credential.
Priya underlined it.
“That gives us a preservation target for the home router.”
Marcus stared at the screen.
“He didn’t think I was a partner.”
Claire closed her notebook.
“No. He thought you were a door.”
Richard had cultivated Marcus because he was useful, wounded, and eager to be chosen. The same qualities Marcus thought proved leadership had made him easy to manage.
Elaine pushed the folder forward.
“Marcus will provide his phone and personal email voluntarily.”
Priya did not touch it yet.
“Full devices. No selective export.”
“Agreed.”
“Preservation affidavit.”
“Agreed.”
“And no contact with Richard.”
Marcus nodded.
“I want to help.”
Claire met his eyes.
“You want to survive.”
He did not deny it.
---
Two hours later, Richard’s broker submitted a notice to transfer nearly all of his Lumen holdings through a private block sale.
The price was discounted six percent.
The buyer was a fund with no prior position in the company.
Priya read the notice standing in Claire’s doorway.
“He’s running.”
Claire looked at the business-card case on her desk.
Inside, the surviving circuit chip rested against black felt.
“How fast can he close?”
“Forty-eight hours if no restriction applies.”
“And does one?”
Priya’s expression sharpened.
“Give me ten minutes.”
Claire picked up her pen.
Richard had spent months moving quietly because quiet movement was hard to challenge after the fact.
Now he wanted cash, distance, and a clean exit.
May you like
She clicked the cap once.
“He doesn’t get to sell the evidence and call it an investment decision.”
