“To show tracking vulnerabilities.”
“Did the client authorize the test?”
“No.”
“And after finding the vulnerability?”
“Harrington sold an upgraded tracking package.”
“For how much?”
Graves closed his eyes.
“Four point two million.”
Adrien leaned back.
The case was no longer about what happened on the pier.
It never really had been.
Preston was summoned.
He arrived with two attorneys.
Sterling arrived with four.
Father and son sat apart.
That was new.
Adrien placed Graves’s statement on the table.
Preston did not touch it.
“This guy is lying to save himself.”
Sterling looked at his son.
“You said Graves acted independently.”
“He did.”
“Then why is he naming you?”
“Because he’s weak.”
Sterling’s attorney whispered something.
Sterling ignored him.
Adrien placed several emails on the table.
None explicitly described illegal activity.
The language was careful.
Controlled incidents.
Demonstration opportunities.
Urgency creation.
Conversion windows.
Client vulnerability awareness.
But when placed beside the access logs and subsequent sales contracts, the meaning became harder to hide.
One email carried Sterling’s electronic approval.
PRESTON,
THE CLIENT WILL NOT AUTHORIZE PREMIUM PROTECTION UNTIL THE PERCEIVED RISK BECOMES REAL ENOUGH TO CREATE URGENCY.
PROCEED WITH CONTROLLED EXPOSURE.
-SH
Sterling stared at it.
“That could mean anything.”
Adrien nodded.
“Alone, perhaps.”
Preston turned toward his father.
“You approved the budgets.”
Sterling’s head snapped around.
“Don’t.”
“You did.”
“Preston.”
“You told me every quarter that I wasn’t generating enough federal revenue.”
Sterling’s attorneys looked horrified.
Adrien remained silent.
Sometimes the best investigative question was no question.
Preston continued.
“You wanted incidents.”
“I wanted demonstrations.”
“You wanted problems.”
“I wanted market urgency.”
“That’s the same thing.”
Sterling leaned forward.
“You reckless idiot.”
Preston laughed bitterly.
“There it is.”
“Do you understand what you’ve done?”
“What I’ve done?”
“You attracted attention.”
Preston stared.
“You’re angry because I got caught.”
Sterling stood.
His attorney grabbed his arm.
“Mr. Harrington, sit down.”
Sterling shook him off.
“If you had exercised even basic judgment—”
Preston slammed both hands on the table.
“You taught me this.”
The room froze.
Adrien looked at Mason.
Mason was already taking notes.
Preston pointed at his father.
“You told me clients don’t pay to prevent what they can’t imagine.”
Sterling’s face drained.
“You told me fear sells faster than statistics.”
“Stop talking.”
“You told me—”
“Stop.”
The attorney stood.
“This meeting is over.”
Adrien closed the folder.
“No problem.”
The attorney looked surprised.
Adrien stood.