Chapter 492

Chapter 492:

“What did you do?”

“I documented everything he told me. I had my legal team research whether we had any obligation to report suspected safety violations by a competitor. I spent sleepless nights debating whether to warn the client or stay out of Meridian’s business.”

Victoria’s heart monitor began beeping faster as her stress levels rose.

“And?” Hannah prompted gently.

“I decided it wasn’t my place to interfere. We were competitors. If I reported Meridian’s cost-cutting to the client, it would look like I was trying to sabotage them to win the contract myself.” Victoria’s voice was full of old pain. “I told myself that Meridian’s engineers would catch the problems before anyone got hurt. I told myself that Richard Pierce was too experienced to let truly dangerous equipment be installed.”

Camille felt tears welling up. “So you did nothing?”

“I did nothing. And two weeks later, seventeen people died.”

The beeping of the heart monitor increased noticeably. Dr. Martinez appeared in the doorway, but Victoria waved him away.

“When the families sued after the explosion, Richard Pierce tried to claim that Kane Industries had sabotaged his equipment. He said we’d deliberately provided him with false specifications to make his installation fail.”

“That’s when you fought back,” Stefan said.

“That’s when I defended my company against false accusations. But Richard Pierce knew that I had prior knowledge of his cost-cutting. He threatened to make that information public, to claim that Kane Industries knew about the dangerous equipment and chose not to warn anyone.”

“Which would have made you look complicit,” Hannah realized.

“Exactly. So when the courts investigated the explosion, I provided every document showing that Meridian Technologies was responsible for the faulty equipment.”

“Proved that Richard Pierce had certified the installation as safe when he knew it wasn’t. I defended Kane Industries by destroying Meridian Technologies completely.”

Victoria’s voice grew quieter. “But I never told the courts about the engineer who warned me beforehand. I never admitted that I could have prevented those deaths by speaking up two weeks earlier.”

“You protected yourself by staying silent about your prior knowledge,” Camille said, understanding dawning.

“I protected Kane Industries. I protected our employees, our clients, our future. I made sure that Richard Pierce couldn’t drag us down with him by claiming we were accessories to his negligence.”

“But you felt guilty,” Stefan observed.

“I felt responsible. Not legally, but morally. I could have saved seventeen lives by warning the client about Meridian’s dangerous shortcuts. Instead, I worried about business ethics and competitive fairness while people were about to die.”

.

.

.