Chapter 6 - THE REAL TARGET
Noah read the message three times.
Mia was never the target.
The words made no sense.
Scarlett had confronted her.
Scarlett had struck her.
Scarlett had pushed her.
Yet Victor’s message suggested the attack had been designed to reach someone else.
Noah returned to Mia’s room.
She was awake but exhausted.
He did not show her the threatening note.
He told her the folder had been stolen.
Mia closed her eyes.
“I made another copy.”
“Where?”
“I mailed it.”
“To whom?”
She looked at him.
“To your father’s former attorney.”
Noah’s father, Alexander Vale, had died eight years earlier in a private plane crash.
His attorney, Eleanor Shaw, had retired shortly afterward.
“Why Eleanor?”
“Because she contacted me last month.”
“She said your father once investigated the Golden Hearts Foundation.”
Noah sat down.
“My father created that foundation.”
“He would never steal from it.”
“She didn’t accuse him.”
“She said he believed someone inside the company was using it to hide illegal payments.”
Noah remembered the final weeks before the crash.
His father had become secretive.
He had canceled meetings.
He had argued repeatedly with Victor.
At the time, Noah believed they were fighting over a hotel acquisition.
“What did Eleanor tell you?”
“That your father planned to remove three executives.”
“Before he could present his evidence, his plane went down.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“The investigation ruled it mechanical failure.”
“I know.”
“Eleanor believes the maintenance records were altered.”
Noah stood.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She tried.”
Mia’s voice softened.
“Victor controlled access to you after the funeral.”
“He told her you were too emotionally unstable.”
Noah walked toward the window.
For eight years, he had trusted Victor as the man who saved the company after his father’s death.
Victor had handled the funeral.
The estate.
The insurance claims.
The board transition.
Everything.
Mia reached for his hand.
“The foundation payments began three months before the crash.”
“They stopped for a year.”
“Then Scarlett reopened the same accounts after you appointed her.”
Noah turned toward her.
“You think Victor recruited Scarlett?”
“I think he made her believe she deserved your position.”
A sudden alarm sounded from the monitor.
Mia gasped as another contraction tightened through her.
The nurse rushed in.
The baby’s heartbeat dropped sharply.
Doctors entered within seconds.
Noah was pushed toward the door.
Mia reached for him.
“Noah.”
He caught her fingers.
“I’m here.”
The doctor examined the monitor.
May you like
“We cannot stop the bleeding.”
“We need to deliver the baby now.”
