Chapter 19 - Apex DayFinal interview day took place at Apex Global’s regional headquarters.
Nineteen members of the fifty attended.
The company arranged transportation from campus.
Sofia wore a navy suit borrowed from Professor Ward.
Marcus had somehow forgotten his tie and bought one at a gas station.
Brooke had color-coded everyone’s interview schedule.
Leo came only because Camille Ross asked him to observe the technical-recruitment session.
“I am not applying.”
“You’ve mentioned that fourteen times.”
“Good.”
The headquarters tower looked exactly like the kind of building business students dreamed about.
Glass.
Steel.
Security gates.
Quiet elevators.
The candidates entered one by one.
Sofia returned from her interview smiling.
“I think I did well.”
“You did,” Brooke said.
“You weren’t there.”
“I choose confidence.”
Priya returned expressionless.
Everyone panicked.
Then she whispered:
“They asked me to stay for an additional interview.”
Marcus nearly tackled her in celebration.
By afternoon, another surprise arrived.
Apex CEO Jonathan Reeves appeared in the conference room.
Candidates straightened instantly.
Reeves didn’t give a motivational speech.
He apologized.
Not for causing the sabotage.
Apex hadn’t.
But for designing a recruitment system so rigid that a local failure could nearly erase legitimate candidates.
“We built rules to prevent favoritism,” he said. “Those rules nearly amplified it instead.”
Leo respected that too.
Systems could fail even when designed with good intentions.
Reeves announced changes.
Verified technical outages would now trigger independent review.
Application receipt systems would preserve timestamped partial submissions.
Recruitment staff relationships with university donors would receive stronger conflict screening.
Then he looked at the Westbridge students.
“You forced us to examine something we assumed worked.”
Brooke whispered to Leo, “That’s basically corporate language for ‘we messed up.’”
“Yes.”
After Reeves left, Camille handed Leo another envelope.
“No.”
“You haven’t opened it.”
“No.”
“It isn’t an offer.”
Leo eyed her suspiciously.
He opened it.
Invitation to join Apex’s external university recruitment technology advisory group.
Paid.
Part-time.
No employment requirement.
He stared.
“This is sneaky.”
Camille smiled.
“I learned from recruiters.”
Leo accepted.
Not because of the money.
Because the system needed improvement.
That evening, the group returned to Westbridge.
Results would come in several days.
Everyone was exhausted.
As Leo stepped off the shuttle, his phone rang.
Agent Ortiz.
“Everett Holloway has been indicted.”
Leo stopped.
Charges included conspiracy to commit wire fraud, computer intrusion conspiracy, obstruction and several financial offenses related to the merger.
Graham Pike and Coach Voss were also charged.
Nolan Price had entered a cooperation agreement and faced his own charges.
Leo listened quietly.
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
Ortiz hesitated.
“Your university account was not the first student account they used.”
“How many?”
“At least eleven.”
Leo closed his eyes.
Other students had been framed for suspicious system behavior over the years.
Minor disciplinary cases.
Access violations.
Academic integrity investigations.
Some had left Westbridge.
“One student lost a scholarship,” Ortiz said.
Leo’s happiness from interview day disappeared.
“Can their cases be reopened?”
“The university is reviewing them.”
“Not good enough.”
“I assumed you’d say that.”
The next morning Leo went straight to Dean Bell.
He placed a list of the affected students on her desk.
“We fix these.”
Dean Bell nodded.
“We will.”
“No internal quiet review.”
She looked at him.
“What do you want?”
“Independent investigation.”
“Leo—”
“If Westbridge falsely disciplined people because donors manipulated systems, Westbridge doesn’t get to investigate itself and call that accountability.”
She stared at him for several seconds.
Then smiled slightly.
“You really are difficult.”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
An external law firm was appointed that afternoon.
The story was still growing.
Not outward.
Backward.
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