Page 80 of The Mogul: Leonard

I smile, feeling the last of my fears slowly start to fade. For the first time since this nightmare began, I feel like I can breathe again, like I can face whatever is coming with a little less fear and a little more faith. Because I’m not alone.

33

Leonard

I sit across the cold, metal table in the prison’s visiting room, my hands resting in front of me. The sterile, gray walls feel suffocating, as though they’re watching and accusing everyone in this room. Oliver sits across from me with that same scowl I’ve seen on him lately. Unfortunately, now it’s even deeper than before, and there’s a disturbing coldness in his eyes. His cuffs clink as he shifts in his seat, shooting me a look dripping with anger and resentment.

Beside me, my lawyer is silent, watching Oliver with the detachment his job demands, as if he’s just one more case he is dealing with. And across from him sits Oliver’s lawyer, who leans back in an unimpressed manner, probably just studying the situation and trying to avoid getting involved in whatever’s about to happen between us. I came here for one reason—to hear from Oliver himself why he betrayed me, throwing everything we built together into the garbage. But now that I’m face-to-face with him, I wonder if I’m ready for whatever version of the truth he’s about to dump on me.

“Why?” I finally ask, my voice steady, my eyes fixed on his. I want him to see that he can’t avoid confrontation this time. “Why’d you do it, Oliver?”

He scoffs, shaking his head. “Why?” he repeats, his voice full of bitterness. “You really don’t know, do you?”

“No,” I reply, keeping my tone calm, almost cold. “I don’t. We had it all. Built it from nothing together. Did you want more?”

Oliver leans forward. His eyes harden as he studies me with something that looks like disdain. “That’s exactly the problem, Leonard. We built something special. Something for the purpose of helping people, remember? We were going to protect innocents. We created this company to keep people safe, for those who can’t do it on their own.”

“I remember,” I say slowly. “That’s why I’m here, why the company exists. I haven’t forgotten, Oliver.”

He scoffs again, his expression twisting into something ugly. “You’re so full of bullshit. You are so caught up in your empire that you’ve lost sight of everything we stood for. You started chasing money, prestige, power—all these shiny distractions. You’ve turned what we built into just another corporate machine.”

“That’s not true,” I reply, feeling the spark of frustration inside my chest. I snuff it out, trying to stay calm. “I expanded, yes. I started new ventures because I wanted challenges, to push my boundaries. I wanted to know what I was capable of, but I never stopped caring about what we do. My focus has always been on our first company…on protecting people.”

Oliver’s laugh fills the room. It’s a loud and angry sound surrounding us with a chilling feeling of madness. “Protecting people? Really? Do you think that’s what you’re still doing? You’re living in your own bubble, launching new companies, piling up cash, while the people who need help are left in the dust. How is that protection?”

“Just because I started new businesses doesn’t mean I abandoned our original mission,” I say, struggling to keep my composure. “I’m still fully invested in the cybersecurity company, still working to protect our clients, just as we always planned.”

Oliver shakes his head, his expression full of scorn. “You’re lying to yourself. You don’t care anymore. You just want to be the king of everything, don’t you? King of your own little empire.”

The accusation stings, but I refuse to let it show. “Is that what you think?” I ask, my voice calm but also challenging. “That I’m some kind of power-hungry monster? You’ve known me for years, Oliver. You know what drives me, what my principles are. You’re the one that completely lost contact with reality.”

He narrows his eyes, and his mouth curls in disgust. “I thought I did. But somewhere along the way, you lost sight of what really mattered. While you were busy playing CEO, I was left to actually keep the business running, to fight for our clients, to keep the mission alive. Meanwhile, you were strutting to board meetings and going to that club with your billionaire buddies like that’s all that mattered.”

I feel the anger burn inside me like lava ready to explode, but I keep it contained. “I trusted you to run things because I knew you were the best person to do it. You didn’t want any other responsibility; you just wanted to work on the products. I tried to give you the same opportunities that I had, and you refused to even consider them. Just because I expanded into other projects doesn’t mean I abandoned our mission. I believed in you.”

He leans back, arms crossed, his expression shifting to something colder, more calculating. “You can’t see it, can you? You can’t see how blind you are. You used to care about the people we were helping, but now you only care about building one company after another. A long time ago, you knew our clients by name; now, you don’t even know our employees’ names. That’s what I couldn’t stand. That’s why I did it. I couldn’t watch you destroy what we created.”

His words sink in, and for a moment, I study his face, looking for the friend I once knew, the partner who stood by my side, who shared my dream. But all I see is a man consumed by resentment, someone who’s twisted our past into something unrecognizable.

“I never lost sight of what we created. I just created something bigger. To help more people, to research new technologies, so we could lower our prices to reach more people in need,” I say, feeling a sense of finality and realization filling my chest. “I expanded because I wanted to make an impact, to use our success to reach more people, to protect even more than just our clients. I kept my focus, but I wanted to do more. You’re the one who lost sight. You’re the one accumulating billions in offshore accounts, putting the clients you’re so fond of at risk.”

He lets out a bitter laugh, his gaze unyielding. “You think adding more zeroes to your bank account counts as making an impact? You think building an empire was the answer?”

I shake my head, feeling a calm settle into my bones. “No, but with all those zeroes, I helped a lot of people across many fields; I made a difference in the community we live in. I measure ‘my empire’ by the people I’ve helped and the lives I’ve made easier and safer. That’s always been what mattered to me. What did you do with your money except spread it into other countries where the people that really need it can’t reach it?”

He laughs bitterly, dismissing my words with a wave of his hand. “I was saving my family. I tried to ensure a future for the people I love. Don’t judge me for where I decided to put the money.”

For a moment, I feel a pang of guilt, wondering if there’s truth in his reasoning. Maybe he needs that money for his family. I lost track of his personal life a long time ago. But from what I heard about his marriage, he’s the one who destroyed it. Not me, not his wife. Him.

“Which family, Oliver?” I ask in a quiet tone. “The one that abandoned you? Your wife and your kids don’t even want to talk to you because they’re ashamed of what you did. They didn’t even want to look me in the eyes when they told me they didn’t know you were stabbing me in the back. The family that I put on a private plane to escape this hell before being torn apart by what you did? How do you think they’re dealing with the fallout? Don’t tell me you did it for your family because you know that’s a massive pile of bullshit.”

He looks away, his jaw clenched, and for a moment, there’s a flash of something in his eyes—regret, maybe, or doubt. But it vanishes as quickly as it appears, replaced by a hardened mask of anger.

“I did what I had to,” he says, his tone defiant. “Someone had to put a stop to this madness. Someone had to make you see you’ve lost your way.”

I stare at him, realizing there’s nothing left to say. He’s trapped in his own version of events, convinced he’s the hero of his own story and that his betrayal was somehow justified. And in this moment, I feel a sudden, unexpected sense of closure fill my chest.

I came here hoping for answers, hoping that maybe there was a way to understand why he did it. But now I see that Oliver is lost, consumed by his own anger and resentment. He’s chosen his path, and there’s nothing I can do to change that.

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