Chapter 14 - The Boardroom Trap
By the time I landed in New York, Mara's face was on every news site.
I called her.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
My mother met me at Whitaker Tower.
“You need to make a statement.”
“I need to find Mara.”
“You need control of the company first.”
I hated that she was right.
The boardroom doors opened at nine.
Charles Cartwright sat at the head of my father's table.
I took the seat opposite him.
He smiled.
“Family emergency?”
“You tell me.”
The vote began.
Charles accused me of instability.
Conflict of interest.
Corporate misuse.
He showed photographs of my trip to Canada.
He had people everywhere.
Then he made his mistake.
He mentioned Maya.
“She is not your legal child.”
I leaned back.
“I never said Maya was the missing girl.”
Silence.
Charles's smile disappeared.
One director looked at him.
Then another.
I put Brielle's mother's journal on the table.
Charles stood.
“You stole that.”
“Interesting choice of words.”
He reached for it.
My mother blocked him.
“Sit down, Charles.”
He laughed.
“You think you're clean, Evelyn?”
“No.”
That surprised everyone.
She turned to the board.
“I interfered with my son's relationship. I blocked Mara Reyes from contacting him. I supported an illegal transfer of a newborn child because I believed my husband when he said it was necessary.”
Her voice shook.
“I was wrong.”
Charles stared at her.
“You stupid woman.”
My mother flinched.
Then smiled.
“You always did hate women who stopped being useful.”
The board vote stalled.
My phone vibrated under the table.
Mara.
I answered on speaker by accident.
Her voice was breathless.
“Adrian, Celeste found me.”
“Where are you?”
“Don't say it out loud.”
Charles lunged across the table for my phone.
Security grabbed him.
Mara continued.
“She says Maya was never in danger from Charles.”
Charles stopped struggling.
I stared at the phone.
“What?”
“She says your father lied.”
My mother went pale.
Mara whispered, “Adrian, the money wasn't being laundered through the clinics.”
“What was it?”
“Children.”
The room went dead.
“Your family's foundation was paying for illegal private adoptions.”
My mother sat down hard.
Charles began laughing.
Not because it was funny.
Because someone had finally said the thing everyone had spent years avoiding.
Then Mara said, “And your father wasn't trying to stop it.”
The line went silent.
I looked at my father's portrait on the wall.
Mara's next words came through broken static.
May you like
“He started it.”
