I never told my parents that I had invested $500 million to save their failing company. My sister took credit, claiming she had closed the deal. At the victory party, my five-year-old son accidentally spilled water on his dress. She hit him so hard he lost consciousness. My mother snorted, “You clumsy speculator! Take the boy and go!” I gave them one last chance to apologize. Instead, they shouted, “Your sister saved us! You’re nothing but a burden!” Then they turned their attention to me. “Hello, our CEO…” What I had done had completely shattered their world.

“These,” I said, pointing to the screen, “are the reports from the negotiations for the $500 million capital injection. As you can see, all communications originated from my private server. And here…” I clicked again. “…are Vanessa Rossi’s personnel file at Titan Corp.”

I marked the fragment.

“Of the three months Vanessa claimed to have spent ‘sleepless nights’ working on this deal, her keycards show she spent only twelve hours in the office. The rest of the time was spent at the Azure Spa or boutiques in Paris. She didn’t win this deal. I conceded it.”

Shareholders in the front row began to whisper loudly. The CEO of Northern Bank looked at Marcus Rossi with horror.

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