Chapter 26 - The Boardroom
Thomas entered alone.
Daniel stood at one end of the long table.
Emily stood beside him.
Richard sat near the window.
Lucas waited beside the computer.
Marcus and federal agents were hidden behind the adjoining conference-room doors.
Thomas looked around.
“You always did like theater, Daniel.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“You arranged my wedding.”
Thomas’s expression tightened.
“Fair point.”
“You arranged Rebecca.”
“Yes.”
“Michael?”
“Yes.”
“Evan?”
“Jonathan was supposed to be temporary.”
“Catherine?”
Thomas did not answer.
Daniel’s hands curled into fists.
But he did not move.
“Why?”
Thomas walked toward the window.
“Do you know how many families I saved?”
“No.”
“Neither did Catherine.”
Thomas looked at him.
“She saw the ugly parts and decided the entire system was evil.”
“You manipulated people.”
“I prevented collapse.”
“You killed people.”
Thomas’s face hardened.
“I made decisions.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“There it is.”
Thomas ignored him.
“Your father understood. Wealth at your level is not money. It is infrastructure. Thousands of jobs. Pension funds. Hospitals. Property. Governments.”
“And that gave you permission to choose who lived?”
“No.”
Thomas looked tired.
“It gave me responsibility when everyone else was too weak to choose.”
Emily stepped forward.
“You tried to remove me from my own family trust.”
“You were unpredictable.”
“You sent Rebecca into my father’s life.”
“Daniel was lonely.”
“You tried to control him.”
“I tried to protect what he built.”
Daniel finally spoke.
“From me?”
Thomas looked at him almost sadly.
“From your emotions.”
Daniel thought of Catherine.
“You murdered my wife because she disagreed with you.”
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“She was going to release data that would have destroyed innocent families along with Bellweather.”
“So you killed her.”
“I stopped the release.”
“How?”
Thomas realized too late.
His eyes moved toward the ceiling.
No obvious cameras.
Lucas quietly pressed a key.
The hidden doors opened.
Federal agents entered.
Thomas did not panic.
He smiled.
“That recording proves nothing.”
Lucas turned the monitor toward him.
“No.”
Jonathan’s audio waveform appeared beside a live transcript of Thomas’s statements.
“But this does.”
For the first time, Thomas looked afraid.
Then he moved.
Not toward the exit.
Toward Emily.
Daniel reacted instantly, but Richard was closer.
He stepped between them.
Thomas struck Richard with the metal edge of a tablet.
Richard fell against the table.
Agents surged forward.
Thomas grabbed the laptop containing the Steward file and slammed it onto the floor.
The screen shattered.
Lucas shouted, “It’s mirrored!”
Thomas froze.
That was the moment he lost.
Agents forced him down and secured his hands.
Daniel stood over the man he had called his best friend for forty years.
Thomas looked up.
“You think Catherine won?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Thomas smiled.
“Good.”
Daniel looked toward Emily.
Toward Richard climbing painfully to his feet.
Toward Lucas.
Toward the shattered computer.
“She wasn’t trying to win.”
May you like
Thomas’s smile disappeared.
“She was trying to make sure you lost.”
