In any case, Patrick's scandal was nothing compared to the kind of scandals celebrities were involved in. The post only made a tiny splash, but I was just using it to test the waters anyway.

When the second eight-hour mark hit, I exposed how Patrick had deliberately given the order to set up a local company, solely for the sake of suppressing the competition.

He'd driven the founder of the company to ruin. For years now, the victim had been trying to take him to court—and I just so happened to provide the evidence to back the victim's claims now.

Following the release of both exposés, the situation went a lot more viral than I'd expected.

That same day, people started asking me about what was going on. Although I didn't respond to anyone, the online community was in an uproar already. Everyone was able to follow the trail of clues and dig up the conflict between Patrick and me.

"So, he got laid off without compensation, and now he's exposing the dirt he has on his boss? Sounds like the guy's no saint either!"

"Whoa! Does he have ties with the criminal underworld or something? I can't believe he's going for the jugular like that."

"Hey, man, do you think it's still worth investing in your old company's shares? I'm thinking about buying some while the prices are low."

The comments were mixed, but I didn't care.

As it was, this situation was enough to cause Patrick quite a bit of trouble. He could no longer sit still, choosing to message me about it. "You just want some compensation from me, don't you, Heath? Fine. I'll give it to you. How much do you want? Just stop screwing with me, okay?"

I snorted. Did he think I was only after his money?

That was not nearly enough to satisfy me.

I didn't bother answering him. I was busy watching over Georgia at the hospital. Her condition was improving, and once she regained consciousness, I finally exhaled in relief.

At the same time, all of the data on my laptop had finally been processed. I gave it some thought before choosing to upload the data.

When Patrick didn't get a response from me, he called to threaten me. "Heath, if you don't want trouble, you'd better keep your mouth shut! You need money for your wife's treatment, right? I'll give it to you.

"It's just your severance pay anyway. I'll give you two months' salary for every year you've worked for me!"

That made me snort. "That's chump change. You accused me of things I didn't do and made me the scapegoat for a loss of over a billion dollars, Patrick. You think you can just use a few hundred thousand dollars to get me off your back?"

"How much do you want?"

"Ten million dollars."

"Dream on!" Patrick fumed. "I'd rather spend ten million dollars on hiring Internet trolls to drown you out than give you the money!"

"In that case, I guess we won't be coming to an agreement."

After ending the call, I released the third exposé that instantly went viral as well.

"United Foundation Donation Fraud!"

This bombshell sent the online community into a frenzy.

"Are you serious? The foundation has been lying about their donations? Then, where did all the money I donated go? Didn't they say the funds were being used to set up libraries for elementary schools?"

"You've got to be kidding me! They spent 50 thousand dollars on travel expenses and only 30 thousand dollars on donating school supplies? So, they basically used our money to go on a fully funded vacation! Look at the school! It's located in a tourist destination!"

"Here's a little-known fact for everyone's reading pleasure—that particular elementary school was closed down two years ago. So, where did the money go?"

"Well, the almighty chairman, Patrick Hoffman, is too busy to answer our questions on that. He's still on his snow mountain climbing trip!"

"The guy exposing these things used to be an accountant for United Enterprise. He's basically shooting himself in the foot just to get back at his old boss. It feels like he doesn't care what happens to him anymore!"

They were wrong about that. I cared a great deal about what was going to happen to me. That was the only reason why I came up with this plan.

Patrick was clearly in panic mode now. In just 24 hours, I'd dropped three major exposés. The first drove a wedge between him and his wife. The second ruined his reputation. And now, the third resulted in both him and the company being the target of public scrutiny.

Questions began flooding in from all sides. Both his personal account and the company's account on social media were being besieged with confrontational questions and mockery.

The PR department at United Enterprise was cracking under the pressure.

Some of my ex-coworkers who maintained good relationships with me secretly kept me updated on the situation in the office. Patrick was back from his trip. He'd called for everyone to work overtime and come up with a solution for this crisis as quickly as possible.

I sneered. Why would I have chosen to release these three specific exposés if they could be resolved so easily?

When Patrick came to find me, I had just walked out of the doctor's office. The doctor said Georgia's condition was stable and improving steadily. She could soon be discharged from the hospital.

I was relieved to hear that.

And as soon as I left the doctor's office, I spotted Patrick. With a smile that didn't reach his eyes, he gave me a debit card.

"There's 500 thousand dollars on there, so just stop it now. Why must you insist on making things ugly?" he said. "What can you gain from pushing me into a corner?"

I shoved the card back into his hand.

"You made me take the fall for you and ruined my reputation. You left me drowning in mortgage payments, barely making ends meet. You wouldn't even give me the money I needed to save my wife! So don't blame me for not showing any courtesy," I growled.

"Everything I've done has solely been to give myself a way to survive. You can't buy off the years I've spent working for you with just 500 thousand dollars, Patrick. Ten million dollars, and not a single cent less!"

Patrick scowled. He didn't expect me to stand my ground.

"So, this is how it's going to be, huh, Heath? So be it. We'll see about this!"

He marched right off, but I didn't care at all.

However, he soon retaliated against me.

Early the next morning, the police showed up at the hospital to take me with them.

"Heath Carter, someone has reported you for defamation and spreading falsehoods. You need to come down to the station with us."

To keep Georgia from worrying about me, I'd already asked my mother-in-law, Naomi Moore, to come take care of her.

So, when the police arrived, I followed them out calmly. The moment I stepped out of the hospital, I was swarmed by a group of reporters.

"Heath, you accused United Foundation of fraud, and now you've been arrested yourself. Care to share your thoughts on that?"

"You previously exposed the workplace harassment endured by a female employee. Did you even get her consent first?"

"You claim to be doing the righteous thing, but aren't you just another criminal exposing other people's private information?"

Faced with their accusations, I simply replied with a calm smile, "Once the eight-hour mark passes, there'll be another exposé. I hope Mr. Hoffman spent enough on paid shills to cover his ass and get out of this next scandal unscathed."

Immediately, the crowd of reporters surged forward and started pressing me further.

"What's the exposé? Can you give us a hint?"

"What does it involve this time?"

Pausing in my tracks, I looked straight into one of the cameras and said in all seriousness, "It'll be something that will ruin Patrick Hoffman's reputation completely—enough to strip him of everything he has."

After flashing them one last smile, I got into the police car.

At the station, the police didn't ask me all that many questions. They just had me confirm that I was the one who made the posts.

I also provided them with the evidence to back up my claims.

Soon, two lawyers showed up, claiming to be United Enterprise's legal counsel.

"Mr. Carter, we represent United Enterprise in filing a lawsuit against you for libel, defamation, and extortion."

I snorted. "You can only sue me if I released fabricated information, but everything I said is a proven fact. How does it count as libel and defamation?

"The so-called extortion is also a baseless accusation. I simply asked Patrick for what he owes me. Apart from the severance pay I'm due, he also owes me dividends on the company shares I've owned for the past seven years. I'm just asking for the money I'm owed. What's illegal about that?"

"Since you two are lawyers, I'm sure you're familiar with the relevant laws. Take a look at this equity agreement, then tell me if there's anything wrong with what I'm doing."

Their expressions stiffened once they saw the equity agreement I showed them.

Chuckling, I remarked, "Kindly pass a message to Patrick for me. He has three minutes before I release my next exposé."

The two men swiftly got in touch with Patrick, and his furious roar rang through the phone. "Tell him he can keep dreaming! That so-called agreement is just a bunch of bullshit! He made it up! I doubt he can do much else. Go all in against him!"

Hearing that, I couldn't help but sigh. There was nothing more for us to discuss, then.

Three minutes later, a 24-page document went viral across the Internet, and so did United Enterprise.

Once Patrick saw the latest exposé, he collapsed into his chair.