Chapter 5 - The Underground WarStripped of his corporate accounts, Alex was forced to rely on personal cash reserves and liquidated private assets. He moved Liam and Ethan out of Wattle Street into a secure, undisclosed location in the Blue Mountains, bringing Mrs. Thompson along as their official caregiver to maintain continuity in their lives.
For the first time in years, Alex wasn't looking at spreadsheets or stock tickers. He was learning how his sons cooked, what nightmares kept Liam awake, and how Ethan held his pencils. But peace was short-lived.
One night, while Alex was going through Valerie’s old belongings—recovered from an old storage locker Mrs. Thompson had kept paid for—he found a encrypted USB flash drive hidden inside the lining of Valerie's leather diary.
Valerie hadn't just been an analyst; she had been Peterson Tech’s lead auditor in 2014.
When Alex plugged the drive into his off-grid laptop, he discovered the real reason why Arthur Vance and the board had been so desperate to pay Valerie off and hide her away. It wasn't just about the illegitimate pregnancy.
Valerie had discovered that Peterson Tech’s foundational algorithm—the very software that made the company worth billions—was built on stolen intellectual property from an offshore non-profit environmental group, leading to illegal cobalt mining operations in West Africa.
Arthur Vance hadn't just buried Valerie's kids; he had used her pregnancy as leverage to silence her, threatening to take her children away through corrupt social services if she ever published the audit.
"She didn't abandon them," Alex whispered, tears streaming down his face as he read Valerie’s final diary entry. "She went into hiding to keep them alive."
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Just as the realization dawned on him, the lights in the safehouse flickered and died.
Outside, heavy tires crunched against the gravel driveway.
