Chapter 5 - Follow the Supplier
Northstar Advanced Materials looked legitimate at first glance.
Registered in Nevada.
Compliant paperwork.
No obvious criminal flags.
But Maya didn’t stop at the company itself. She followed who owned the shell behind it, and the shell behind that one, until the trail ended somewhere nobody in the room expected.
A private trust.
The Cross Family Opportunities Trust.
Ethan read the ownership note twice before saying anything.
“That’s impossible.”
Maya didn’t blink. “No. It’s improbable. There’s a difference.”
Ethan’s older half-brother Jonathan Cross managed that trust. Officially, Jonathan served as CrossTech’s vice chairman and head of strategic investments. Unofficially, he was the family member who enjoyed money without ever standing under public blame.
Daniel’s notes showed that Northstar’s cheaper magnetic composite had been introduced before the board approved any supplier change.
Meaning someone had quietly tested it first.
Meaning Prometheus’s instability was not an accident that emerged after procurement.
It was a known risk before it was ever made official.
When Jonathan arrived that morning in a charcoal coat and expensive impatience, he walked straight into a room full of people who had already read Daniel Bennett’s notebooks.
“What is this about?” he demanded.
Ethan slid the Northstar ownership report across the table.
Jonathan glanced at it and gave the kind of smile rich men use when they think words can replace consequences.
“Passive investment exposure.”
Daniel’s first notebook said otherwise. He had copied invoice numbers, shipping dates, and internal engineering complaints, then tied them to procurement meetings Jonathan attended.
Maria, who had been invisible in CrossTech buildings for years, finally spoke.
“My husband died being called insubordinate because he said that material was unsafe.”
Jonathan looked at her like a person looks at a stain that unexpectedly starts talking.
“Mrs. Bennett, I’m sure this feels very dramatic—”
“No,” she said. “It feels expensive. For you.”
The room went silent.
Jonathan turned toward Ethan. “You’re not entertaining this.”
Ethan’s face was unreadable. “I’m entertaining the possibility that my company buried an engineer’s safety warning while my own family profited from the material substitution.”
May you like
For the first time, Jonathan stopped sounding superior.
And for the first time in years, Maria stopped feeling small inside a room full of powerful people.
