Reincarnated With the Ultimate Son-in-law System

Chapter 27

Michael's temporary office in the financial division buzzed with urgent activity. He'd deliberately relocated here away from the executive floor's watchful eyes and whispered accusations to work directly with Sandra Williams and her team of analysts.

"These transfer authorizations don't add up," Sandra said, spreading printouts across the conference table. Her glasses slid down her nose as she leaned forward, jabbing her finger at a sequence of numbers. "The timestamps are inconsistent."

Michael leaned in, studying the documents. "How so?"

"Digital signatures include encrypted timestamp data," Sandra explained, switching to her laptop to display the technical details. "When you sign a document electronically, the system records not just your authentication but precisely when it happened."

She highlighted a section of code. "These signatures show your authorization at 3:42 PM on the dates in question, but the document metadata shows modifications continuing until 4:17 PM—after they were supposedly finalized and signed."

"Someone altered the documents after applying my signature," Michael realized.

Sandra nodded. "Exactly. And they weren't careful enough to update the hidden metadata. Amateur mistake, really."

"Could this be user error? Or system glitch?" Michael asked, playing devil's advocate.

"Not a chance," Sandra replied firmly. "I've analyzed twenty-seven transfer documents. Every single one shows the same pattern—modifications made thirty to forty-five minutes after your supposed authorization."

Michael smiled. This was exactly the evidence he needed. "Can you trace who made those modifications?"

Sandra's fingers flew across the keyboard. "Already on it. The system logs user credentials for all document access." Her screen filled with code as she bypassed the standard interface to access raw server logs.

"Interesting," she murmured after several minutes. "The user credential is hidden behind an administrative override. Someone with top-level system access didn't want to leave fingerprints."

"But they did," Michael said. "The override itself is a fingerprint. How many people have that level of access?"

"Four," Sandra replied. "You, your father, the CTO, and—"

"Eric," Michael finished.

"Well, technically, your brother and Vanessa Shaw share a credential for his division's operations," Sandra clarified. "So it could be either of them."

Michael nodded thoughtfully. "Keep digging. I want to know exactly where that money went."

For the next thirty-six hours, they worked almost without breaks. Sandra sent junior analysts for food and coffee while she and Michael followed the money trail through a labyrinth of shell companies and obscured transactions.

"Got it!" Sandra exclaimed near midnight on the second day. Her eyes were red-rimmed from exhaustion, but triumph blazed in them. "The transfers didn't disappear into cryptocurrency..that was misdirection. They were converted to euros, then routed through three shell companies before landing at Horizon Futures LLC."

"Who owns Horizon Futures?" Michael asked, though he already suspected the answer.

Sandra pulled up the ownership documents. "On paper, it's owned by a holding company in the Cayman Islands. But I traced the incorporation paperwork." She turned her screen toward Michael. "The holding company's beneficial owner is ETC Global Partners."

"And ETC stands for?"

"Eric Thomas Crawford," Sandra confirmed. "Your brother owns the company that received the stolen funds, laundered through shell corporations he controls."

"Perfect," Michael whispered. The trap he'd laid weeks ago had worked beautifully. He'd suspected Eric might try something like this—it mirrored his actions in Michael's previous life—and had strategically created documented weaknesses in the financial systems for Eric to exploit.

"We need to prepare a presentation for tomorrow's board meeting," Michael said. "Everything documented, every connection verified."

"Already on it," Sandra replied, stifling a yawn. "But I need more coffee to get through this."

"I'll get it," Michael offered, standing to stretch his stiff muscles. "You've earned at least that much service from me."

When he returned with two steaming cups, Sandra was organizing files into a presentation folder. "Your brother's going to have a hard time explaining this away," she said, accepting the coffee gratefully.

"That's the plan," Michael replied.

The next morning, the Crawford Enterprises boardroom filled with tense anticipation. Board members and executives filed in silently, careful to maintain neutral expressions as they took their seats. Eric arrived last, confidence evident in his relaxed posture.

Richard Crawford called the meeting to order. "As scheduled, we're here to review the findings regarding the financial irregularities in Project Horizon. The board's external auditors will present first, followed by Michael's investigation."

The chief auditor, a gray-haired woman with piercing eyes, stood and distributed her report. "Our preliminary findings confirm the transfers occurred as documented. The funds $4.7 million were indeed moved from Project Horizon accounts to several external entities. The transfers appear to bear Mr. Michael Crawford's electronic signature."

Eric leaned back slightly, satisfaction flickering across his face.

"Thank you," Richard said. "Michael, your response?"

Michael rose, buttoning his jacket. "Thank you, Father. And thank you to the board for the opportunity to investigate these serious allegations."

He activated the presentation screen, displaying the first slide: a timeline of the suspect transfers.

"I don't dispute that money was moved from Project Horizon accounts," Michael began. "Nor do I dispute that my electronic signature appears on the transfer authorizations. What I do contest is the authenticity of those authorizations."

He advanced to the technical slides Sandra had prepared, explaining the timestamp discrepancies in terms the board could understand. "In essence, the documents were modified after they were supposedly finalized and signed—a technical impossibility unless someone applied my signature and then altered the content."

Board members leaned forward, following the evidence with growing interest. Even Jenkins, who had been openly skeptical of Michael's innocence, appeared troubled by the timeline inconsistencies.

"But the real question," Michael continued, advancing to the next slide, "is where the money went."

The screen displayed a complex flow chart tracking the transfers through multiple entities before reaching their final destination.

"The funds were deliberately routed to obscure their ultimate destination was a company called Horizon Futures LLC." Michael paused, letting the information sink in. "A company beneficially owned by none other than Eric Crawford through his holding company, ETC Global Partners."

Gasps filled the room. All eyes turned to Eric, whose face had drained of color.

"That's—that's preposterous," Eric stammered, his confidence evaporating. "I know nothing about these transfers!"

"The documentation says otherwise," Michael replied calmly, distributing folders containing ownership records and transfer details. "Everything is verified through independent sources, including banking records and incorporation documents."

Richard Crawford's face remained impassive, but his eyes burned with quiet fury as he examined the evidence. "Eric? Your explanation?"

Eric's eyes darted around the room like a cornered animal. "This is clearly a setup! Michael must have created this paper trail to frame me after stealing the money himself!"

"An interesting theory," Michael commented. "Except the board's own auditors confirmed the transfers occurred. Are you suggesting I stole money from my own department, created a complex money trail leading to your company, and then called attention to it myself?"

"I—this is—" Eric struggled to form a coherent defense.

"Furthermore," Michael continued relentlessly, "the administrative override used to modify the documents after signing came from credentials shared only by Eric and his assistant, Vanessa Shaw."

The board meeting dissolved into chaos. Jenkins demanded Eric's immediate suspension. Chen called for a criminal investigation. Wilson questioned whether they should involve federal authorities given the apparent money laundering.

Through it all, Michael watched his brother's face, noting every twitch, every micro-expression of panic. Eric had clearly expected Michael to be fired before completing his investigation—he'd never anticipated being exposed so thoroughly.

As the board voted unanimously to suspend Eric pending a full investigation, Michael felt a strange sensation washing over him. The System message appeared in his field of vision: [Task completed successfully. Reward: Enhanced Financial Insight unlocked.]

Suddenly, the world transformed before his eyes. Financial data no longer appeared as mere numbers and charts.. Michael could perceive them as energy flows, luminous patterns revealing connections invisible to others. Eric's remaining accounts glowed like hidden rivers in his perception, their weaknesses and vulnerabilities obvious as daylight. Every financial structure around him radiated patterns of strength or fragility, transactions pulsing like heartbeats through the corporate body.

"Mr. Crawford? Michael?" Richard's voice pulled him back to the moment. "Do you have anything to add before we conclude?"

"Just one thing," Michael replied, his new perception highlighting vulnerable points in Eric's financial network like glowing targets. "I believe we should freeze all accounts connected to ETC Global Partners immediately. The evidence suggests there may be other misappropriated funds at risk."

As the meeting adjourned, Michael approached Sandra, who was gathering her presentation materials.

"I can't thank you enough," he told her. "Your forensic work was brilliant."

She smiled tiredly. "Just doing my job. Though I admit, taking down the golden boy felt pretty satisfying."

"Let me buy you lunch," Michael offered. "You deserve at least that much after pulling two all-nighters."

"Rain check?" Sandra replied, stifling a yawn. "I need to document everything for the legal team, then possibly sleep for a week."

"At least let me get you some coffee for the road," Michael insisted.

As he headed toward the executive kitchen, he passed Vanessa hurrying in the opposite direction, her expression tightly controlled. She carried a coffee carrier with several cups, moving purposefully toward the financial division.

Michael's enhanced perception noticed something odd—a subtle energy disruption around one of the coffee cups, different from the others. He paused, watching as Vanessa disappeared around the corner, but urgent calls from board members pulled his attention away.

Twenty minutes later, as Michael was explaining technical details to the legal team, a scream echoed from the financial division. He sprinted toward the sound, arriving to find Sandra collapsed on the floor beside her desk, her body convulsing violently.

"Call an ambulance!" Michael shouted, dropping to his knees beside her.

Security personnel rushed in, one calling for medical assistance while another checked Sandra's vital signs. "What happened?" the guard asked the frightened analyst who had screamed.

"I don't know," the young woman sobbed. "She was just working at her desk, drinking her coffee, and then she started shaking and fell!"

Michael's gaze landed on the coffee cup knocked over on Sandra's desk—the same distinctive cup from the carrier Vanessa had been carrying earlier.

"Check the security footage," Michael ordered. "Right now!"

Within minutes, they were reviewing the hallway camera feed in the security office. The timestamp showed Vanessa entering Sandra's office thirty minutes earlier, leaving the coffee on her desk while Sandra was away. But instead of simply placing the cup down, the footage clearly showed Vanessa opening a small vial and adding something to one specific cup before hurrying away.

"Lock down the building," Michael commanded. "Find Vanessa Shaw immediately."

But security soon reported back—Vanessa had left the building twenty minutes earlier, claiming a family emergency. She wasn't answering her phone, and her apartment was empty when officers were sent to check.

As paramedics worked frantically to stabilize Sandra, Michael stood in the hallway, rage and determination hardening inside him. This wasn't just corporate rivalry anymore. They had tried to kill Sandra Williams—an innocent woman whose only crime was helping expose their fraud.

The game had escalated beyond boardroom politics. Now it was potentially murderous. And Michael knew exactly who had given the order, even if Vanessa had carried it out.

His enhanced financial insight showed him Eric's hidden resources like glowing threads accounts, properties, contingency plans. With this new perception, Michael could dismantle his brother's financial empire piece by piece.

The question was no longer whether he would destroy Eric, but how thoroughly and whether anyone else would get hurt in the process.