The guy who wouldn't give up the folder. Dad said he has a son on the site. Lily shrugged. People who won't give up a folder usually know other stuff. Maya looked at Ethan.
Ethan said, "She's 13. " She's right. Maya said, and then picked up her phone. At 11: 52, Ray Delgado answered his phone in his kitchen in Grove City with his boots still on. Mr. Delgado, my name is Maya Reynolds.
I know your voice, ma'am. I heard it on speaker this morning. I need to ask you something and you're free to hang up. Go ahead. Does that lobby have audio?
Ray was quiet. Mr. Delgado? The lobby cameras are video only, Ray said slowly. But the executive floor conference rooms record audio on every scheduled call.
It's a compliance thing. It's been that way since before she got there. Maya said that down very carefully. Every scheduled call. Yes, ma'am.
Retained 90 days rolling and longer if it's flagged to a financing matter. March 4th would be outside 90 days. It would be, Ray said. Unless it was flagged to a financing matter. At 12: 14 in the morning, Marcus Hale sent an email to an address Maya had posted on a public compliance portal 5 years earlier and never taken down.
The subject line said, "I want to talk before somebody else does. " At 6: 40 that morning, Maya called Ethan and woke him on his own couch. He blinked. Who blinked? The site director, Marcus Hale. He wants a meeting and he wants a lawyer in the room and he wants it before 9: 00.
Ethan sat up. Before Claire files. Before Claire files. At 7: 50, Victoria Sterling walked into the 41st floor and found Gerald Vance already sitting in her office. Gerald.
Claire files at 9: 00. I know. You could stop her. How? Terminate her at 8: 55, Gerald said.
Revoke her authority. A corrective certification from a former officer has no standing. It buys us 4 weeks. Victoria stood by her desk with her coat still on. You're telling me to fire my CFO for correcting a false filing?
I'm telling you what's available. You asked me for help yesterday. That's help. Gerald. She set her bag down.
Do you think I knew? Gerald Vance took his glasses off. I think he said that you have never once in 9 years asked a question you didn't want the answer to. And I think a jury can be made to understand the difference between not knowing and not asking, but I've never seen one bother. At 8: 55, Victoria did not fire Claire Donovan.
At 9: 04, the corrective certification hit the Ohio Department of Commerce, and by 9: 40, the Columbus Dispatch had it alongside Renata Osai's screenshot, alongside the 14-finding vendor report, alongside a photograph of a man in an old canvas jacket putting his own hands behind his back. The stock opened down 9%. By 10: 15, it was down 22. At 10: 40, Admiral Charles Boyd called an emergency session of the Aurelia Global Board of Directors to be held at 4: 00 that afternoon in person in Columbus and told his assistant to book eight flights. At 11: 00, Victoria Sterling's assistant knocked on her door and said, "There's a call for you, and I think you should take it. " "From who? " "A woman named Maya Reynolds. " Victoria looked at the phone for a long moment, then she picked it up.
"This is Sterling. " "Ms. Sterling, I'd like to arrange a meeting between you and Ethan Carter. " "Absolutely not. " "He doesn't want it either, " Maya said. "For the record, he said, and I'm quoting him, 'I've got nothing to say to that woman that a document doesn't say better. ' I'm the one asking. " "Why? " "Because I've been doing this for 22 years, and I've watched 11 companies go through what's happening to you right now, and there's a moment in every one of them where the person at the top decides whether they're going to be a defendant or a witness. " A pause. "That moment is today, Ms. Sterling.
It's not tomorrow. Victoria's hand was flat on her desk. "Where? " she said. At 1: 20 that afternoon, Ethan Carter walked back into the lobby of Aurelia Global for the second time in 26 hours. Nobody stopped him.
That was the part he wasn't ready for. Nobody stopped him, and the receptionist named Britney stood up when he came through the door, and she didn't say anything, and her eyes were red, and she just stood there behind that desk like a soldier. Ray Delgado met him at the elevator. "Mr. Carter. " "Ray, you didn't have to say my name to that federal woman yesterday.
You were holding the folder. " "I've been holding folders in this building for 19 years, " Ray said. "That's the first time anybody said my name out loud in one. " The elevator opened. Ray put his hand on the door and did not step in. "41st floor, conference room C. " He hesitated. "Mr.
Carter, whatever she offers you. " "Ray, my boy reports August 4th. " "I know, " Ethan said. "Nobody's reporting anywhere on the 4th. " At 1: 31, Victoria Sterling and Ethan Carter sat across a table from each other for the first time. Gerald Vance was there. Maya Reynolds was there. Nobody else.
Victoria spoke first. "I'm told I should apologize. " "You're not going to, " Ethan said. "So, let's not spend 20 minutes on it. " Gerald slid a folder across the table. It was Ethan noticed almost exactly the size of the one he had carried in the day before. "Mr.