Chapter 4 - The Internal Audit
By 11:30 AM, the seventh-floor bullpen had transformed from a corporate execution chamber into a federal-style holding zone.
The New York regional office of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) didn't wait for an invitation. Two compliance officers, accompanied by an independent forensic IT investigator, walked out of the private elevators with heavy metal lockboxes and immediate subpoena powers.
They didn't look at Ethan Brooks. They didn't ask Julian Vance for his side of the story. They walked straight past the executive suite and headed directly to my desk.
"Mr. Reed?" the lead investigator, a sharp-eyed woman named Special Agent Vance—no relation to our CEO, thankfully—asked as she flashed her federal credentials.
"Yes, Agent Vance," I said, remaining seated at my desk.
"We received your encrypted data packet via the SEC whistleblower portal at 9:01 AM," she said, her tone professional, crisp, and entirely devoid of corporate polish. "Our cyber forensics team has already verified the cryptographic signatures on the source code repositories and email headers. It is currently the most airtight intellectual property theft and securities fraud package this office has seen in a decade."
Across the aisle, Ethan Brooks was sitting at his desk, shaking uncontrollably, his head buried in his hands as two Apex internal security guards stood over him, waiting for the federal agents to finish securing the floor.
Julian Vance was nowhere to be seen. He had locked himself inside his corner office forty minutes ago, presumably shredding documents or frantically calling every criminal defense attorney in Manhattan.
"What do you need from me, Agent Vance?" I asked, opening my laptop.
"We need you to serve as the interim Chief Risk Officer while we execute a full receivership audit of the firm's prime brokerage accounts," she replied smoothly. "The board of directors is currently holding an emergency remote meeting. They’ve already voted to suspend Julian Vance and strip Ethan Brooks of his credentials pending criminal indictment."
She slid a formal, gold-embossed appointment document onto my desk.
I looked down at the paper. It wasn't a severance agreement. It wasn't a three-page notice of termination designed to strip away my equity. It was a binding executive mandate, signed by three institutional venture capitalists who held controlling shares in Apex Financial, officially appointing me as Senior Managing Director of Risk Architecture.
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I picked up a pen, signed my name at the bottom with a steady, unhurried hand, and handed it back.
"Let's go audit the books," I said.
