Julian reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a sleek black tablet.

“The transaction is ready,” he said, showing me the screen. “Once I verify this, the funds will be transferred to your account.”

He looked at me, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“You understand that once you sign this, you can never come back,” Julian said. “If you try to contact Andrew, or anyone else, we will release this to the authorities.”

“I understand,” I said. “But how do I know you won’t release it anyway, even after I leave?”

Julian laughed, walking back toward the fireplace.

“Because once you are gone, Andrew will be forced to step down as CEO,” Julian said. “The board will appoint me. I won’t care about you once I have the company.”

“So you admitted it,” I said, taking a step closer. “You poisoned the batch just to ruin Andrew’s reputation.”

Julian turned back to me, his face twisting into a sneer.

“Of course I did,” he said. “Andrew is weak. He cared more about safety standards than profit. I had to create a crisis to show the board he couldn’t handle the pressure.”