PART 3
“Who deleted the files, Robert?” Ethan asked, his voice deathly quiet.
The general manager didn’t answer. His smartphone was visibly shaking in his hand. Patricia stopped crying instantly, her breath hitching, while Karla glanced toward the staff exit door, subtly calculating how long it would take her to walk out and never look back.
Lupita remained perfectly still. Lily had drifted completely back to sleep against her father’s shoulder, entirely insulated from the corporate disgrace filling the room like heavy smoke.
“Robert,” Ethan repeated, stepping closer. “I asked you a question.”
The manager swallowed hard. “The automated network log shows that several critical compliance and HR files were wiped from the local server just five minutes ago. It was done via an administrative portal.”
“Whose account?”
Robert closed his eyes, his shoulders sagging. “Mine.”
The silence that followed was far more devastating than a shout.
“I didn’t do it, sir! I swear!” Robert panicked, his voice rising. “My automated login session is frequently left active on the desktop in the main executive office downstairs. Anyone with access to the back hall could have stepped in!”
Ethan looked at him with a cold, unforgiving disappointment. “Then in addition to fostering a culture of discrimination, you allowed sensitive, confidential company data to be left completely unsecured for anyone to manipulate.”
Robert dropped his head, unable to meet his employer’s gaze. Lupita pressed her lips together, a look of profound weariness settling over her face, as if this level of corporate corruption didn’t surprise her in the least.
“Lupita,” Ethan turned to her. “Do you have anything?”
Patricia instantly pointed an aggressive finger at her. “She is cleaning staff! She is absolutely not permitted to possess proprietary company documents!”
“I don’t have confidential trade secrets,” Lupita replied smoothly, standing her ground. “I have physical carbon copies of my own filed grievances. The ones I personally stamped and turned in. With dates. With names. With the exact responses I received.”
Karla let out a nervous, desperate scoff. “Right, because the maid is suddenly an internal auditor.”
Ethan snapped his gaze to Karla. “One more unprofessional word out of you, and you will be physically escorted from this property by armed security.”
Karla’s mouth slammed shut.
Lupita reached deep into the pocket of her maroon uniform vest and pulled out an old smartphone with a severely cracked screen.
