Chapter 8 - MIDNIGHT SALE
We had six hours.
Daniel’s lawyers sought an injunction.
Victoria’s board accelerated the vote.
Three directors supported her.
Two opposed.
One was missing.
His name was Henry Walsh.
Dad’s oldest friend.
We found his car at O’Hare.
No Henry.
His wife said he had received a message from Victoria.
COME SIGN OR EMILY LOSES EVERYTHING.
Then his phone went dark.
Police searched.
Daniel’s security searched.
I called Henry myself.
Voicemail.
“Henry, it’s Emily.”
My voice shook.
“I don’t care about the company.”
That was a lie.
“I care if you’re safe.”
Less of a lie.
“Please call me.”
At 10:40 p.m., Henry called.
Whispering.
He was inside a private conference room at a downtown law firm.
Not kidnapped.
Pressured.
Victoria’s lawyers had told him the company would collapse unless he approved the sale.
They had not let him leave with the documents.
Daniel said.
“That’s coercion.”
Henry replied.
“I know that now.”
At 11:18, police entered the law office.
At 11:31, Henry signed an affidavit.
At 11:46, the judge issued a temporary restraining order.
At 11:52, Victoria tried to close anyway.
At 11:57, the bank froze the transfer.
At 11:59, Ambrose Holdings wired a nonrefundable twenty-million-dollar deposit.
The sale failed.
The deposit did not come back.
Victoria had just lost Ambrose twenty million dollars.
At 12:03, my phone rang from an unknown number.
I answered.
Lawrence Ambrose.
His voice was soft.
“You cost me money.”
I felt cold.
“You locked me in a bedroom.”
“I never locked the door.”
“Victoria did.”
“Then your issue is with Victoria.”
“You were in the room.”
A pause.
“You hit me.”
“You touched me.”
Another pause.
Then he laughed.
“You sound like your father.”
I gripped the phone.
“You knew he was being poisoned.”
Silence.
Daniel stood.
Ambrose’s voice changed.
“Who told you that?”
I looked at Daniel.
Then said the one thing guaranteed to make him panic.
“My father did.”
May you like
Ambrose hung up.
