“She’s bluffing,” my father snapped, though his voice shook.
But Meredith didn’t laugh.
She knew.
She stood so fast her chair crashed backward. Without a word, she grabbed her purse and ran out the door.
The investigation took ten days.
During that time, my phone became a battlefield. My father called me jealous and spiteful. Meredith left frantic voicemails begging me to call Grant and say it had all been a misunderstanding.
I ignored them.
On the eleventh morning, Grant called.
The audit was complete.
Meredith had illegally accessed confidential planning files unrelated to her assignments. She had removed internal appraisals and used proprietary data to pressure me into selling before the announcement increased the property’s value.
“I’m not firing her,” Grant said.
“Why?”
“Because firing her lets her play victim and move to another firm. I want accountability.”
Meredith was stripped of her acquisitions role. Her promotion was permanently revoked. Her salary was frozen. She was reassigned to the lowest level of project management.
That alone would have been enough.
But Grant wasn’t finished.