Chapter 10 - The Secret Behind Titan's $2.5 Million Deal
On December twenty-sixth, I met Rebecca and Julian at Apex's Boston headquarters.
The city was still decorated for Christmas.
Shoppers carried expensive bags along the sidewalks, holiday music played in the hotel lobby downstairs, and a light snowfall softened the buildings outside our conference room.
Inside, nobody felt festive.
Julian had assembled a preliminary report from Titan's financial submissions.
It was forty-three pages long.
"Before we start," Rebecca said, "we need to maintain a clean separation between Gideon's personal dispute and Apex's review."
Julian nodded.
"The investment committee has already documented the independent grounds for suspension and termination."
"Good."
I opened the report.
The first page summarized the disputed personal guarantee.
The second summarized Titan's liquidity position.
The third made me swear.
Silas had apparently described my personal credit support as a committed founder-family capital facility.
There were two immediate problems.
First, I had never agreed to provide such a facility.
Second, he had presented the arrangement as if Titan could rely on the money to sustain its operations through the proposed funding period.
"Who prepared this?" I asked.
Julian pointed to the submission history.
"Silas's account uploaded it."
"Could Nolan have been involved?"
"We don't know yet."
I turned another page.
There were invoices for luxury transportation.
A watch purchased through a retailer whose name I recognized.
Multiple high-end restaurant charges.
A weekend hotel expense that Silas had apparently categorized as investor development.
I looked at Julian.
"Did anyone actually meet an investor during that weekend?"
"Compliance requested the supporting records."
"And?"
"Nothing produced so far."
Rebecca tapped her pen.
"Misclassification is one issue. Intentional falsification is another. Don't assume the second without evidence."
I nodded.
She was right.
Anger had a way of making every suspicious detail look like a confession.
I needed facts.
Julian turned to another section.
"The biggest concern is the use of Titan's corporate facilities."
He explained that certain expenses appeared to have been supported by lines of credit whose repayment obligations depended on my personal guarantees.
Some arrangements were ones I'd actually approved.
Others weren't.
The distinction mattered enormously.
"If Silas used documents without authorization," Rebecca said, "we'll address that separately."
I looked at the numbers.
For three years, my family had called me controlling whenever I asked for receipts.
Now I was staring at the very receipts they hadn't wanted me to see.
Julian leaned back.
"There's also a problem with Titan's investor presentation."
"What kind?"
"The deck emphasizes deployment commitments from three regional logistics operators."
"Are they real?"
"The companies exist. But the agreements appear to be nonbinding letters of interest, not executed commercial contracts."
I stared at him.
"That changes the revenue assumptions."
"Substantially."
Titan wasn't necessarily worthless.
Nolan's logistics API had genuine potential.
But the investment pitch appeared to present a more advanced business than the supporting documentation justified.
And Silas had apparently assumed nobody would examine the difference closely enough.
My phone vibrated.
An unfamiliar number.
I ignored it.
Then a message appeared.
Gideon, this is Nolan Price. I need to speak with you. I think Silas lied to both of us.
I showed Julian.
He frowned.
"Let compliance arrange that conversation."
A second message appeared.
He told me the guarantee was approved by you personally. I have emails.
Rebecca immediately sat forward.
"Don't respond substantively yet. Preserve the messages."
I looked at the screen.
Nolan was Titan's technical co-founder.
I'd never met him.
Everything I knew about him came from investment reports and Silas's occasional stories.
According to those reports, Nolan was responsible for the technology, client demonstrations, and engineering team.
Silas managed fundraising, corporate relationships, and financial administration.
An arrangement that now seemed alarmingly convenient.
Julian's assistant knocked on the conference room door.
"Sorry to interrupt."
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"There's a woman downstairs asking for Gideon."
Rebecca frowned.
"Did she give a name?"
"She says she's Silas Mercer's former executive assistant."
I looked up.
"Why is she here?"
The assistant hesitated.
"She says she has copies of documents that Titan deleted from its internal system last night."
Julian exchanged a look with Rebecca.
Then his assistant added one final sentence.
"And she says someone has been using Felix's name on the company's expense records."
For the first time since Christmas dinner, I felt genuine fear.
May you like
Not for my finances.
For my son.
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