It was Julian who found it.
Or rather, Julian who knew where to look—beneath layers of encrypted code tucked away in a backup server Marcus thought he buried years ago.
Clara had gotten him access. Anita had given him motive.
The file was labeled Elektra.
Inside, it was a ledger.
Not of profits. Not of client names.
But bribes.
Anita stared at the screen, eyes unblinking.
Foreign transfers. Government officials. Timelines that aligned perfectly with GNV's "miraculous" expansions overseas—those too-good-to-be-true market entries that had always raised quiet questions Anita once waved off as strategy.
But this?
This was corruption. Traceable. Illegal.
And—most importantly—undeniably Marcus.
Julian turned to her. "We leak this… he's done."
Anita didn't respond right away. Her mind was already sprinting five moves ahead.
"Not yet," she said at last. "Not until it serves us best."
She met privately with her legal counsel that afternoon.
"This ledger could shift everything," they said, scanning the document in awe. "You'd have grounds to freeze certain assets, reopen board elections, even pursue federal charges."
"But it'll cost you. If you go public, it won't just destroy Marcus. It'll drag the company through hell too."
Anita didn't flinch.
"I built GNV from nothing once," she said. "I can do it again. But I won't let it become a monument to theft."
The lawyer nodded. "Then we prepare the filings. Quietly."
That night, Anita sat alone in her apartment, the city humming beneath her.
The ledger sat open on her tablet.
She zoomed in on a single transaction.
A small payment. Discreet.
Made weeks before her "mysterious" illness began.
Poison had a price.
And Marcus had paid it.
Her hand tightened around the stylus.
He thought he buried her with a check and a lie.
But Anita George was about to dig up everything—and bury him with the truth.