Chapter 3 - Ten Minutes
“Block it.”
Elena’s command came instantly.
Graham typed.
His face tightened.
“I can’t.”
Elena looked at him.
“What do you mean you can’t?”
“The authorization is already inside the legacy system.”
Aaron stepped closer.
“How long until execution?”
Graham checked the timer.
“Ten minutes.”
Damian started laughing.
Not because anything was funny.
Because panic had finally overwhelmed him.
“You’re losing it.”
Elena turned toward him.
“Who has access to the legacy system?”
“Apparently someone smarter than you.”
Aaron grabbed Damian by the jacket.
“Answer her.”
Damian’s smile vanished.
“I don’t know.”
Elena studied his face.
He was terrified.
This time she believed him.
“Graham.”
“Yes.”
“What happens if the transfer completes?”
“Forty-one percent of preferred voting shares move to an external trust.”
“And combined with existing hostile holdings?”
Graham hesitated.
“They could remove you as controlling chairwoman.”
Veronica whispered.
“Oh my God.”
Elena looked at the countdown.
Nine minutes, seventeen seconds.
“Where is the authorization being routed?”
Graham searched.
“Zurich.”
“Origin?”
“New York.”
Aaron frowned.
“This building?”
Graham continued typing.
Then stopped.
“Yes.”
Everyone looked toward the ceiling.
Someone inside headquarters was executing a corporate coup while they stood thirty floors above Manhattan.
“Lock the building.”
Elena said.
Aaron immediately reached for his radio.
Damian shook his head.
“You can’t lock down six hundred employees.”
“I can lock down my headquarters during an active theft.”
Elena turned to Graham.
“Can I revoke the legacy key?”
“Not without triggering automatic succession.”
“Whose succession?”
Graham looked uncomfortable.
“Your mother’s trust.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed.
“My mother is dead.”
“Yes.”
“But the system doesn’t know that?”
“It knows.”
Graham swallowed.
“The successor beneficiary was never disclosed to management.”
Elena stared at him.
“Who wrote that provision?”
“Evelyn.”
The countdown reached eight minutes.
Elena walked to the window.
Nine years earlier, her mother had died after a short illness.
Elena had inherited control of Voss Global but had never seen every clause of Evelyn’s private trust.
Her mother had been secretive.
Brilliant.
Paranoid.
And apparently prepared for something Elena had never known existed.
Damian spoke behind her.
“What happens when the clock hits zero?”
Elena turned.
“You’re still unemployed.”
His face twisted.
She looked toward Veronica.
“You said Damian had an insider.”
Veronica nodded nervously.
“Did the insider ever call?”
“Once.”
“Male or female?”
Veronica hesitated.
“Female.”
Elena’s expression changed.
“Age?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“Maybe fifty.”
Elena went still.
There were only a handful of senior women in Voss Global who had been there long enough to understand Evelyn’s legacy structures.
Graham appeared to realize the same thing.
“Elena.”
She nodded.
“Pull every employee who worked directly for my mother.”
He searched quickly.
Seven names appeared.
Two were retired.
One was dead.
Three were currently overseas.
One was inside the building.
MARGARET VOSS — EXECUTIVE COUNSEL.
Damian looked at the screen.
“Voss?”
Elena said nothing.
Margaret was her aunt.
Her mother’s younger sister.
The woman who had held Elena at Evelyn’s funeral.
The woman who had told her, “Your mother trusted you more than anyone.”
The countdown reached six minutes.
Aaron’s radio crackled.
“Chief, we have movement on forty-four.”
Aaron answered.
“Who?”
A guard replied.
“Margaret Voss.”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
“Detain her.”
A pause.
Then static.
The guard spoke again.
“She’s not alone.”
Aaron frowned.
“Who’s with her?”
The answer came through the speaker.
“Three members of the board.”
The countdown hit five minutes.
And Elena finally understood.
May you like
This was not theft.
It was a takeover.
