Chapter 15 Breaking Hearts #2
Several workers commented on how serious he'd become.
Others assumed the pressure of the research had finally caught up with him.
Nobody guessed the truth.
And if they did, they were kind enough not to mention it.
The project quickly became the only thing keeping him moving.
Each new discovery gave him something to focus on besides grief.
Something productive.
Something meaningful.
Because unlike his relationship with Mason, the evidence made sense.
Facts didn't leave.
Facts didn't break your heart.
Facts simply existed.
Late one Tuesday evening, Eli sat alone inside the administration archives.
A portable lamp illuminated stacks of records surrounding him.
Outside, darkness had swallowed the brickworks.
The facility felt almost abandoned.
Only distant security lights remained visible through the windows.
Most people would have gone home hours ago.
Eli barely noticed the time.
His attention remained fixed on a collection of maintenance records spread across the table.
Something had been bothering him for days.
A discrepancy.
A gap.
A pattern he couldn't quite explain.
The answer finally appeared just after nine o'clock.
And when it did, his entire body went cold.
Eli sat upright immediately.
Then reviewed the document again.
And again.
The numbers remained unchanged.
The realization hit with startling force.
"Oh my God."
The words escaped into the empty room.
Because he finally saw it.
Not just missing reports.
Not just ignored complaints.
A system.
Someone had created a system.
For years.
The maintenance requests weren't disappearing randomly.
They were being redirected.
Delayed.
Downgraded.
The pattern stretched across multiple departments and several years of records.
Each incident seemed insignificant on its own.
Together, however, they revealed something much larger.
Something deliberate.
Eli grabbed another folder.
Then another.
His pulse accelerated with every page.
The evidence kept growing.
Several serious maintenance concerns had been classified as minor issues.
Repair requests repeatedly disappeared after passing through one specific office.
Inspection recommendations were delayed for months.
Sometimes longer.
Most alarming of all, multiple safety warnings involved the same section of the kiln operation.
A section still active today.
The realization made his stomach turn.
People could have died.
People still could.
Eli pushed away from the table and paced the room.
His mind raced.
Trying to process everything.
Trying to connect the pieces.
The problem wasn't simply negligence.
Negligence implied carelessness.
This looked intentional.
Purposeful.
Organized.
Someone had actively prevented critical information from reaching senior management.
Including Harold Bennett.
Including the board.
Including anyone capable of forcing change.
The implications were enormous.
Suddenly, many things made sense.
The worker complaints.
The missing reports.
The fear people expressed during interviews.
Even Mason's stories.
Everything connected.
A single thread running through years of hidden problems.
Eli returned to the table.
More carefully this time.
Methodically.
Like a researcher rather than a grieving man chasing distractions.
For the next two hours, he documented everything.
Dates.
Names.
Incident numbers.
Maintenance requests.
Missing paperwork.
Every piece of evidence.
Every connection.
Every inconsistency.
By midnight, a clear picture had emerged.
And it was ugly.
Someone inside Blackthorn Brickworks had spent years protecting themselves at the expense of worker safety.
The question was who.
The answer arrived shortly afterward.
Not certainty.
Not yet.
But enough.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Over and over.
Always connected to delayed reports.
Always connected to missing documentation.
Always connected to safety concerns that vanished before reaching management.
Eli stared at the records.
The realization felt surreal.
Because he recognized the name immediately.
Not a worker.
Not a supervisor.
Someone higher.
Someone trusted.
Someone nobody would suspect.
His heart pounded.
The evidence wasn't complete yet.
But it was close.
Very close.
For the first time since the breakup, something stronger than heartbreak took hold.
Purpose.
Determination.
Anger.
The kind of anger that demanded action.
Workers had been endangered.
Families had been put at risk.
And somebody had profited from silence.
Eli thought about Carlos.
About Sarah.
About every person who believed speaking up wouldn't matter.
Then he thought about Mason.
About the years he'd spent protecting workers despite a system that often failed them.
The thought strengthened his resolve immediately.
Because this wasn't just research anymore.
It wasn't even a college project.
It was the truth.
And the truth deserved daylight.
Eli gathered the documents carefully and placed them into a secure file box.
His hands trembled slightly.
Not from fear.
From anticipation.
Because for the first time, he possessed evidence powerful enough to force real change.
Powerful enough to expose years of deception.
Powerful enough to shake Blackthorn Brickworks to its foundation.
Standing alone in the archive room, surrounded by records nobody else had bothered to examine, Eli felt something awaken inside him.
Hope.
Not for himself.
Not yet.
But for the workers.
For the company.
For the people who deserved better.
The heartbreak remained.
The loss remained.
Mason remained absent.
Nothing about that had changed.
Yet for the first time since the breakup, Eli could see a path forward.
And at the end of that path waited something worth fighting for.
The truth.
And this time, he finally had the evidence to prove it.
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