[BL] Transmigrated as the Villain CEO's Mermaid Secretary Chapter 163: Colonel’s Mistake

"But that’s not the most interesting part." Neville’s fingers danced across his interface again, and new evidence materialized on the display.

Connections ford and lines stretched outward like a spider’s web. Nas appeared beside photographs—so familiar, so not. Financial transactions illuminated another set of pathways of corruption, hiding in plain sight while everyone focused on surface appearances.

"You see, Mr. Goelet didn’t act alone. He had distribution lines. Sponsors. People who looked the other way in exchange for various favors."

MJ found his gaze drawn unwillingly to Director Cox, sitting rigid in his seat near the front of the assembly. The elderly man’s face had gone gray, and his hands were gripping his chair arms with white-knuckled intensity.

MJ’s mind raced, connecting the dots he never thought he would.

Marcus Chen was one of the people who was close to Ethan. They had been seen together constantly, working on projects, having lunch, and staying late at the office, just like a normal co-worker. But now that Marcus was dead, that left everyone to wonder.

Was Ethan hiding sothing more sinister than this? What more can be sinister than this pheromone experintation? If Ethan was involved this deeply, was he really not involved with Marcus’ death?

He knew that Neville had already explained that his death was an explosion. But was it? Did Director Cox kill Marcus to protect Ethan? Or had Ethan done it himself?

"Additionally," Neville continued, his voice dropping. "Mr. Goelet was responsible for several attempts against during my employnt here."

The crowd was in uproar.

Attempts? Against Neville? Soone had tried to—when? Had soone been trying to kill him all this ti?

The casual way Neville ntioned it made it sohow worse. Just how accustod did you have to be to murder attempts before you could talk about them like that?

"He was also responsible for several... shall we say, ’incidents.’" Neville’s smile sharpened into sothing dangerous. "The contaminated drinks during a hotel gathering. The attempted surveillance of my personal quarters. The unauthorized access to my files."

He let that hang in the air for a mont, watching as the fan club died away into uncomfortable silence. Their previous certainty was replaced by the dawning horror of realizing they had been defending a monster.

MJ rembered the hotel gathering vividly. Everyone was in uproar because of Mick, and they tightened their security. They were even in a buddy system.

But what exactly had Ethan been looking for in Neville’s files? What had he hoped to find or exploit?

Movent in the room interrupted MJ’s spiraling thoughts. Keaton Hewitt was striding toward the podium; he looked unstoppable.

When Keaton positioned himself beside Neville, they seed to complent each other well. It would have made a great scene in one of those drama serials. The wronged hero and his unexpected ally, facing down the forces of corruption together.

"Colonel Vane," Keaton addressed the military officer directly, "while we’re airing grievances and providing helpful information, allow to add my own contributions."

Colonel Vane, who had been watching the entire proceeding with an expression caught sowhere between amusent and personal outrage, gestured curtly for Keaton to continue.

It seed that this situation had spiraled far beyond his control.

"Mick Hewitt—my adopted brother and the forr second young master of the Hewitt family—was operating illegal drug distribution lines within our company." Keaton’s voice was steady, but MJ could see the tension in his jaw, the way his hands were clenched at his sides. "The sa illegal pheromone enhancers that Mr. Hope ntioned. I have reason to believe that perhaps Ethan Goelet was involved in similar—"

MJ watched Neville’s head turn slowly toward Keaton, those eyes narrowing with unmistakable warning.

The ssage was clear even from across the room: Stop right there.

Keaton stopped mid-sentence, apparently receiving the ssage behind Neville’s glare. He cleared his throat, adjusting his approach to the subject.

It seed that they were really close.

"What I an to say," Keaton continued, his voice slightly more asured, "is that George Hewitt—the current CEO and Chairman of HW Corporation—was the primary force enabling these operations. Almost every board mber in our company was complicit. They were all using these illegal pheromone enhancers themselves."

The revelation hit the room.

"If I may," Neville’s voice cut through the chaos. "I believe we’ve established sothing important here today, Colonel."

He turned to face Colonel Vane directly, and there was sothing almost pitying in his expression. He had the look of soone who had won that they could afford to be magnanimous.

"Your investigation was dood from the start because you were chasing the wrong targets."

MJ had always thought Neville was interesting. But this? This was a whole different species of interesting.

Colonel Vane’s mistake had been simple, really. But he hadn’t accounted for Neville.

MJ moved in his seat, trying to maintain the appropriate expression of a loyal employee while internally his entertainnt-professional brain was taking notes.

This was the kind of tension that couldn’t be scripted because no writer would believe audiences would buy it.

He had no choice now but to disclose everything and arrest everyone as originally planned. The ’quiet handling’ option had evaporated the mont Neville decided to stop playing nice.

Colonel Vane pursed his lips. "And you expect to accept that simply? To take your word for all of this?"

"I expect you to do your job." Neville gestured at the evidence still displayed behind him. "For the record, everything you need is right there. Verified. Authenticated. Ready for whatever judicial process you need to take care of."

"This is highly irregular," Colonel Vane protested, but even MJ could hear the weakening in his voice. The argunt was pro forma1 now, a last grasp at dignity before surrender. "Evidence obtained outside official channels—"

"Evidence that your official channels completely missed." Neville’s interruption was rciless. "Evidence that would have stayed hidden forever if you had not succeeded in arresting the wrong people and patting yourself on the back for a job well done."

done or produced as a matter of form.