Chapter 10 - THE BOARDROOM
Tobias survived.
Concussion.
Two cracked ribs.
A badly bruised ego.
“I had him,” he complained from the hospital bed.
“You got hit by a car.”
“Details.”
Meanwhile, Garrett moved fast.
He petitioned the court to have me declared legally dead.
Victor pressured the Mercer board.
And Leonard Finch produced documents claiming Garrett had emergency voting authority over my shares.
Forged documents.
Good forgeries.
Naomi found us a lawyer named Evelyn Shaw.
Evelyn looked at the paperwork and said, “This is either the dumbest fraud I’ve ever seen or the smartest.”
“Which?”
“If we expose it too early, they destroy everything else.”
“So what do we do?”
She smiled.
“We let them win.”
Two days later, the Mercer Shipworks board met in Baltimore.
Garrett arrived in a black suit.
Victor sat beside him.
Leonard Finch carried a leather folder.
They believed I was dead.
They believed Tobias was hospitalized and helpless.
They believed Penelope was under their control.
They believed wrong.
The board chairman cleared his throat.
“Given Mrs. Hale’s presumed death—”
The conference room doors opened.
Every head turned.
I walked in.
Garrett stopped breathing.
Victor’s face went gray.
I wore a navy suit.
My hair was tied back.
No makeup.
No smile.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said.
A director whispered, “Oh my God.”
Garrett stood.
“Rosalind?”
I looked at him.
“Miss me?”
Victor recovered first.
“This is outrageous.”
“So was drowning me.”
Garrett laughed nervously.
“She’s confused. She’s been under tremendous stress.”
I placed the cut seat belt wire on the table.
“You mean this stress?”
Nobody moved.
Then Tobias walked into the room.
Without his wheelchair.
The room erupted.
Victor stared at him as though he had seen the dead.
Tobias smiled.
“Hey, Vic.”
Garrett stepped backward.
Evelyn entered with two federal investigators.
Victor’s face changed.
Then Leonard Finch slowly closed his folder.
One investigator said, “Mr. Hale, Mr. Hale Senior, please remain where you are.”
Victor laughed.
“You have nothing.”
I looked at Penelope.
She stood in the doorway.
And held up a flash drive.
“The real one,” she said.
Then the fire alarm suddenly screamed.
Smoke poured from the hallway.
May you like
Victor smiled.
And I realized the board meeting had been a trap for us too.
