Chapter 15 - The Truth Behind the Locked Office| Security found Puit in the building's underground parking garage.
He was standing beside his car, holding his phone and arguing with someone who had already hung up.
When the security chief approached, Puit tried to smile.
“Is there a problem?”
“We need you to return to the office.”
“I'm off duty.”
“Not anymore.”
Puit's expression changed.
He followed the guard upstairs, but his confidence had begun to fracture. The outage had exposed the access override, and the investigation into his financial records was already underway.
Inside his office, Lena waited with two members of the legal team.
Julian entered last.
“Sit down, Vance.”
Puit remained standing.
“I assume this is about the power outage.”
“It is.”
“Then I can explain. The building's electrical system has been unreliable for months.”
“Why did you use a management override to access the service corridor?”
“I didn't.”
“We have the logs.”
“Then the logs are wrong.”
Julian placed a printed record on the desk.
“Your credentials were used at 8:03 p.m.”
“Someone could have copied them.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Then perhaps you can explain why your office computer shows that you attempted to delete a maintenance report at 8:11.”
Puit's face drained of color.
Lena slid another document forward.
“The deletion failed because the system automatically preserved a copy.”
Puit looked at the papers, then at Julian.
“This is a setup.”
“By whom?”
“You tell me. You're the one who decided to investigate me.”
Julian's voice remained calm.
“Did you disable the safety switches?”
“No.”
“Did you instruct anyone to do it?”
“No.”
“Did you attempt to remove records related to the outage?”
“I was trying to correct a system error.”
“By deleting the report?”
Puit's hands tightened.
“You don't understand what it takes to run a place like this. Every day, someone makes a mistake. A guest complains. A server breaks something. A supplier raises prices. You have to keep the numbers under control.”
“By taking money from employees?”
“By maintaining standards.”
“By accepting payments from a supplier?”
Puit said nothing.
Julian leaned forward.
“You were responsible for a restaurant full of people tonight. If the outage had caused a fire, a serious injury, or a panic near the windows, would you still call it maintaining standards?”
Puit looked away.
For a moment, the room was silent.
Then he spoke in a voice stripped of its usual authority.
“I didn't expect the system to go down.”
Julian's expression hardened.
“That's not an answer.”
Puit looked up.
“I didn't touch the panel.”
“Then tell us who did.”
“I don't know.”
Lena exchanged a glance with the security chief.
Julian stood.
“Effective immediately, you're suspended pending the investigation. Do not access company systems, contact employees about their statements, or remove any records.”
“You can't do this.”
“I just did.”
Puit rose so quickly his chair scraped the floor.
“You're throwing away three years of work because a waitress complained?”
“No,” Julian said. “I'm ending your authority because the evidence suggests you've abused it.”
Puit stared at him, then turned toward the door.
Before he reached it, Julian spoke again.
“If you remember who had access to that panel, tell legal. It may be the most important thing you can do now.”
Puit paused.
His face changed in a way Julian could not read.
Then he left.
Later that night, Julian found Dela in the kitchen, helping Marisol check the refrigerator temperatures.
“Puit has been suspended,” he said.
Dela put down the thermometer.
“Because of the outage?”
“Because of the evidence connected to it, and the financial investigation.”
“Do you know who disabled the switches?”
“Not yet.”
She nodded slowly.
“Then don't assume the case is finished.”
Julian studied her.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because people who are afraid of losing power sometimes do things they wouldn't have considered when they felt safe.”
He thought about the missing records, the management override, and Puit's frightened expression.
“You may be right.”
Dela returned to the refrigerator.
“Then find the truth before someone gets hurt.”
Julian watched her work, feeling the weight of the responsibility he had ignored for too long.
May you like
He had inherited a building, a company, and a reputation.
What he needed now was the courage to discover what they had become.
Related Stories
