Morning came with air colder than usual.
The city sky was clear after a long night of rain, yet inside the Ardent office, the atmosphere was far from calm.
Ethan sat in the small meeting room with Daniel and Sophia. The laptop on the table displayed the document they had found the previous night a long-standing contract between Sophia's mother company and a network connected to Marcus Sterling.
No one spoke for several minutes.
Everyone was still thinking about the same thing.
If the document was real…
then Marcus's entire pharmaceutical empire was built on something that had never truly belonged to him.
Ethan finally broke the silence.
"We can't publish this right away."
Sophia stared at him.
"Why not?"
"Because this isn't enough yet."
Daniel nodded.
"Marcus will say this was just a failed business negotiation."
Sophia crossed her arms.
"Then what do we need?"
Ethan looked at the screen.
"Proof that the technology was actually transferred illegally."
Daniel added,
