Beneath His Lies

Chapter2

Yvonne walked into the staff changing room in a daze. Her ears still rang with Barry’s accusations.

Thief.

The word rang in her head over and over again. How did her first night go from good to bad in a matter of seconds?

****************

Back in the restaurant area, Andrew—Barry’s right-hand man—had just arrived.

He had been inside long enough to witness Yvonne getting fired and couldn’t help but wonder how Barry always managed to find himself in yet another scene.

“Sir, we have to leave now. There are things you need to attend to at the office,” Andrew said calmly. .

On hearing that, Barry sighed and followed him out of the restaurant.

“Has your father heard?” Andrew asked halfway through the drive.

“Yes,” Barry replied while staring out the window.

“He had a lot to say. He said he’s giving me one last chance. Also threatened to remove me from the CEO position if things get worse.”

“Hmm,” Andrew hummed thoughtfully. “ Is that what led to the drama back there sir?” Andrew asked.

“As if my day hasn’t been terrible enough already. Imagine walking into a restaurant and having your wallet stolen. That waitress was the only one who came near my table. I’m sure she took advantage of the time I was on the phone. There were only a few dollars in there, I would’ve given it to her as a tip anyway. “

The car came to a halt as they arrived at the company headquarters. Barry stepped out and headed towards the building with Andrew following closely behind.

“So what’s the update? Has the IT team succeeded at taking down the video? “ Barry asked as they stepped into the elevator.

“Yes sir, but there’s something you need to see.” Andrew’s expression turned serious.

They prepared a report on the situation, and it seems deeper than we initially thought.”

Barry frowned. He wondered if the day could get any worse.

They stepped out of the elevator and into his office. Frustrated, Barry took off his jacket and threw it onto the sofa.

Andrew immediately handed him some documents and Barry sat down to go through them.

Just as he settled into his chair, he felt something beneath him.

Frowning, he got up to check and saw his wallet lying there.

Silence.

A wave of realization washed over him instantly.

Barry stood frozen for a while as Yvonne’s voice echoed in his mind.

“Congratulations. I finally understand why people hate the rich and powerful.”

“Sir?” Andrew called cautiously.

Barry slowly sank back into his chair and shut his eyes.

His mind drifted back to months ago when he was still in prison. One night, a group of inmates had shared stories about what led them there. To his shock, many of those stories were tied to the abuse of power by wealthy and influential people.

Sometimes, innocent people ended up in prison while the real culprits walked free simply because they had money and influence

Barry remembered the disgust he had felt that night. He had promised himself then that he’d never be the type of person that misused power, money or influence anymore.

Yet tonight, he had broken that promise.

“Sir… is everything alright? Andrew asked again, pulling Barry out of his thoughts.

Without saying a word, Barry raised the wallet slightly for Andrew to see.

Andrew stared at it for a few seconds before realization dawned on him.

“Damn,” he muttered. “And you called her a thief?”

Barry shifted uneasily in his seat.

“What are you going to do now?”

“Nothing. I mean it is what it is” Barry said with a straight face.

Andrew cleared his throat uncomfortably. After a few moments of silence, he decides to speak up.

“Sir—“

“Find out all you can about her,” Barry said before he could complete his statement.

“Got it”

Barry loosened his tie slightly before looking up again.

“So what exactly is this report about?” Barry asked, his expression turning serious.

He opened the envelope Andrew handed to him and began to go through the report.

“The IT team managed to bring down the original video but, unfortunately, several blogs already reposted it before they could contain the situation. They are still working on taking the remaining ones down. During the investigation, they discovered something unusual. Most of the anonymous videos released against Dynamo over the past three months were uploaded from accounts linked to the same digital network.

Barry’s expression changed.

“They also noticed similarities in the editing style and speech patterns.”

Andrew flipped through one of the pages and pointed at a highlighted section.

“Remember the video that came out accusing us of money laundering?” Andrew asked.

Barry nodded faintly.

“The same catchphrase was used in that video and at least three others.”

Barry’s eyes moved towards the highlighted sentence.

‘The truth always leaks eventually.’

A brief silence settled in the office.

Over the past three months, Dynamo had been hit with several waves of negative publicity. Anonymous videos and articles constantly surfaced online accusing the company of corruption, delayed salary payments and illegally displacing families to build factories. Most of the accusations lacked evidence and were quickly handled by the PR department.

But this latest one was different.

An anonymous blogger had released a video claiming that the company used daxene—a preservative banned by the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) for use in children’s foods—as one of the ingredients in their newly Dynamo cereal.

And unlike the previous rumors, this accusation directly threatened public safety.

As a food and beverage company, even the slightest doubt about product safety could destroy public trust, affect sales and damage the company’s reputation permanently.

Barry’s father—Mr Anthony Fernandez—had spent decades building Dynamo into one of the biggest multinational food companies. It wasn’t Barry’s intention to let the company collapse under his leadership.

“The IT team also noticed similarities in the editing style, audio distortion and upload timing,” Andrew continued.

Whoever is behind this has been coordinating these attacks for months.”

Barry shut the file slowly.

“Is there anything else?”

Andrew hesitated briefly.

“Well, I actually noticed something myself, sir.”

“Go on”

“The timing”

Barry looked up.

Each video seems to surface whenever the company is preparing for something important. Investor meetings. Expansion deals. Product launches.

“You don’t think that’s a coincidence?” Barry frowned.

“Not at all sir. At first, I felt they could just be targeted attacks from some of our competitors. Well, it could be just that but I also noticed some specific information in some of these videos that outsiders shouldn’t have access to.” Andrew said while searching through his phone.

“Take a look at this.”

Barry collected the phone.

“It’s the cereal video.”

“Yes sir, watch closely.”

Barry stared at the footage again.

“The factory clip attached to the video was recorded inside our headquarters production facility.”

Barry’s eyes opened wider in disbelief.

“This video is from here?”

“Yes, sir”

“Phones are not allowed in the factories. How did this happen?” Barry questioned.

“That’s not all, sir,” Andrew took the phone back and opened another clip.

“The delayed salary accusation video also mentioned details about our internal payment process. I found that a little strange as well, he said, handing Barry the phone.

“And this latest attack happened right before the international cereal launch,” Barry said in realization.

“Exactly, sir.”

A heavy silence filled the office. For the first time that night, Barry realized this was no longer ordinary bad publicity.

Someone was deliberately trying to destroy Dynamo from within.