Chapter 13 - Betrayal from Within
Just as the dust seemed to settle, a new crisis emerged from an unexpected quarter—within Haven & Pine itself.
On Friday morning, Evelyn Vance called me into her temporary office on the third floor of our headquarters. Her expression was grim, a stark contrast to her usual cool composure.
“Claire, we have a leak,” Evelyn said without preamble, turning her laptop screen toward me.
On the screen was a detailed financial ledger of our upcoming national catalog distribution, complete with confidential pricing tiers and wholesale agreements with Vanguard Capital.
“How did this get out?” I asked, my stomach dropping. “This file was restricted to executive leadership only.”
“It didn’t just get out. It was intentionally uploaded to a public forum used by our primary retail competitor, Beacon Home Goods,” Evelyn said, tapping the trackpad. “And the user ID attached to the upload belongs to Marcus Vance—my brother.”
I stared at the screen, stunned. “Marcus? Why would Marcus sabotage us? He helped us acquire the old Bennett warehouse! He’s been an ally!”
“Not an ally of Vanguard, apparently,” Evelyn’s eyes flashed with cold fury. “Marcus has been secretly building a competing logistics syndicate behind our backs. He used your family’s collapse to position himself as the good guy, while quietly plotting to steal our distribution network.”
Family betrayal seemed to be an incurable disease in this town. First my father, then my brother, and now an associate I thought I could trust.
“What do you want to do?” I asked, my voice turning icy.
“We don't defend, Claire,” Evelyn said, a lethal smile touching her lips. “We counter-attack. Marcus thinks he has our proprietary data? Let’s give him what he wants—and watch his entire operation implode when the numbers turn out to be booby-trapped.”
“Explain,” I said.
Evelyn leaned back. “The ledger he stole contains our projected profit margins for the Pacific Northwest expansion. But we altered those projections yesterday morning, embedding a latent compliance violation trigger regarding foreign timber tariffs.”
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I caught on instantly. “If Beacon Home Goods acts on those stolen numbers and tries to undercut our bids, federal trade regulators will flag them for predatory pricing and collusion within forty-eight hours.”
“Exactly,” Evelyn said. “Let’s see how fast Marcus builds an empire when the federal trade commission freezes his corporate accounts.”
