Chapter 9 - The Boardroom Reckoning
By ten o’clock that morning, Ashford Holdings was surrounded by journalists.
News of the party had spread first.
A guest had recorded Margaret’s announcement, including the moment she declared that none of her family would inherit a penny.
The video had been viewed millions of times.
Then reports emerged of a police search involving a forged warrant.
By sunrise, federal vehicles at Ashford Hall had transformed a family scandal into a national story.
Harrison’s emergency board meeting could not be canceled.
Margaret insisted on attending.
She entered the glass tower headquarters with Elena on one side and Samuel on the other.
Mia remained in a secure residence with Moreno and two federal agents.
Sloane and Vane were kept away from the media.
Vanessa wanted to attend the meeting, but Harrison refused.
“You have done enough.”
She slapped him.
He did not react.
For the first time in their marriage, he walked away from her without apologizing.
The boardroom occupied the top floor.
Fourteen directors sat around a black table overlooking the city.
Harrison took his usual chair at the head.
Margaret remained standing.
“The first agenda item is the removal of Harrison Ashford as chief executive.”
One director cleared his throat.
“Margaret, given the current crisis, leadership continuity may be advisable.”
“Continuity created the crisis.”
Harrison looked at her.
“I agree.”
The room shifted.
Vanessa had expected him to fight.
So had Margaret.
Harrison continued.
“During my tenure, unauthorized payments connected to a criminal network continued through corporate accounts. Whether I understood their purpose or not, they occurred under my authority.”
A director named Paul Rainer leaned forward.
“You are admitting liability without counsel.”
“I am admitting failure.”
Another director asked, “Who will replace you?”
Margaret looked at Elena.
Elena immediately shook her head.
“No.”
The board stared at her.
Margaret said, “I have not asked yet.”
“You were about to.”
“You may be the controlling beneficiary of the founder trust.”
“May be. The document was stolen.”
Samuel placed copied photographs of the covenant on the table.
“Before the original disappeared, I photographed every page.”
Victor had taken the paper but not the evidence of its contents.
Samuel explained the ownership provisions.
Several directors reacted with disbelief.
Paul Rainer’s expression remained strangely calm.
Elena noticed.
“You knew,” she said.
Rainer looked at her.
“I knew Thomas Carter once held an interest.”
“How?”
“I joined the company before his death.”
Margaret studied him.
“You worked under Victor Dane.”
“I worked with all three founders.”
“Where is Victor?”
Rainer smiled faintly.
“If I knew that, I would have told the authorities.”
Elena placed Thomas’s identification tag on the table.
“My father’s body was found beneath Ashford Hall.”
Shock moved around the room.
Rainer looked at the tag but showed no surprise.
Elena saw it.
“So you knew that too.”
His smile vanished.
The boardroom doors opened.
Federal agents entered with District Attorney Moreno.
“Paul Rainer,” Moreno said, “you are under arrest for conspiracy, evidence tampering, and obstruction.”
Rainer did not resist.
As agents approached, he looked at Margaret.
“You think Victor is the enemy because he survived.”
“He murdered Thomas.”
“No. Thomas survived the crash.”
Elena stood.
“What?”
Rainer’s eyes moved to her.
“Your father was alive when he reached Ashford Hall.”
Margaret gripped the table.
“Who killed him?”
Rainer smiled again.
“Ask the son who resembles his father.”
Agents pulled him toward the door.
Harrison stood.
“Is he talking about me?”
Rainer laughed.
“You were sixteen, Harrison. Do you really think every secret belongs to your generation?”
Julian’s face changed.
At the time of Thomas’s death, Julian had been thirteen.
Neither son could have managed the concealment alone.
But there was another son in Edward’s family.
Margaret’s brother-in-law, Richard Ashford, had disappeared after a financial scandal two decades earlier.
Richard resembled Edward so strongly that strangers often mistook them for twins.
Margaret turned toward Samuel.
“Find Richard.”
Samuel was already searching his tablet.
“He died in prison seven years ago.”
“Are you sure?”
Samuel stopped typing.
The prison record showed Richard Ashford had died from heart failure.
The physician who signed the death certificate was Doctor Malcolm Reeve.
The same physician had signed Victor Dane’s death certificate thirty years earlier.
Both dead men had been legally confirmed by the same doctor.
A doctor currently listed as the private medical adviser to Ashford Holdings.
Moreno looked toward Harrison.
“Where is Reeve?”
Harrison answered slowly.
“He has a clinic on the twelfth floor.”
The building alarms began to ring.
Smoke rose beyond the windows from a lower level.
A voice announced an evacuation.
Samuel checked the internal security system.
“The fire is on twelve.”
Elena ran toward the door.
May you like
Reeve’s clinic contained the company’s private medical archives.
And possibly the record proving who had killed her father.
