Chapter 13 - The Boardroom War
Charlotte refused to hide.
Three days later, the Solmere board convened on the forty-eighth floor of company headquarters.
Richard expected to remove Charlotte permanently.
Instead Charlotte arrived with Lydia, Grant, Ethan, and two federal attorneys.
Celeste came separately.
Victor remained absent.
Richard smiled when Charlotte entered.
“This meeting is restricted.”
Charlotte placed the original partnership agreement on the table.
“So is fraud.”
The room went silent.
Richard’s smile vanished.
Lydia distributed copies.
“Charlotte Vale controls seventy-five percent of Solmere voting shares.”
A board member frowned.
“The trust supersedes those shares.”
“No.”
Lydia placed another document down.
“The trust was forged.”
Richard leaned back.
“You cannot prove that.”
Ethan opened a laptop.
“We can.”
Bank records appeared.
Payments from Richard to the document examiner who authenticated Eleanor’s signature.
Payments to the private investigator who leaked Charlotte’s medical file.
Payments to Hawthorne Ridge.
Richard looked at Ethan.
“You.”
Ethan stared back.
“For eighteen months.”
The color left Richard’s face.
Charlotte stood.
“As majority shareholder, I move to terminate Richard Vale as executive chairman.”
Three board members immediately objected.
Charlotte smiled.
“You may want to wait.”
Celeste entered.
Victor’s black notebook was in her hand.
Every face changed.
One director whispered.
“What did you do?”
Celeste placed copies around the table.
“I learned to read.”
One board member stood.
Another reached for his phone.
Federal agents entered from both doors.
Chaos erupted.
Richard remained seated.
His face had become strangely calm.
Charlotte watched him.
“You knew.”
Richard almost smiled.
“Knew what?”
“That this could happen.”
He looked toward the city.
“Victor always planned for failure.”
Charlotte felt something wrong.
Her phone vibrated.
Grant’s security director had sent one sentence.
EVACUATE THE BUILDING.
Charlotte stood.
“What did he do?”
Richard looked at her.
“What your mother refused to understand.”
His smile disappeared.
“Solmere was never just a hotel company.”
The fire alarm screamed.
Lights flickered.
Somewhere beneath them, an explosion shook the building.
Glass rattled.
People screamed.
Charlotte grabbed the table.
Richard remained perfectly still.
“Victor has spent twenty years hiding money through this company.”
Another explosion sounded.
“And beneath this building is enough evidence to imprison everyone.”
Charlotte’s blood turned cold.
“The archive.”
Richard nodded.
May you like
“He’s destroying it.”
Charlotte ran.
