Chapter 13 - The Fall of Cassandra Beaumont
Cassandra tried to leave through the west corridor.
Marcus intercepted her beside the orchid wall.
“You cannot detain me,” she said.
“I can detain anyone recorded ordering an assault.”
“My attorneys will destroy you.”
“Then they can meet you at the station.”
Reginald Beaumont pushed through the crowd.
“My daughter is not going anywhere.”
Adrian rose from beside Elena.
The ballroom had become a storm of frightened guests, security officers, and reporters recording every second.
“Your daughter ordered an attack on my wife.”
Reginald looked at Elena with undisguised contempt.
“This misunderstanding does not justify destroying decades of cooperation.”
Adrian’s expression turned still.
“You watched a pregnant woman fall and called it a misunderstanding.”
“I am speaking about the larger picture.”
“So am I.”
Adrian removed his phone and called Vale Global’s finance director.
“Freeze all transfers to Beaumont Bank. Suspend the merger. Notify federal regulators that the Project Winter accounts were hidden inside foundation transactions.”
Reginald’s face changed.
“You cannot do that without board approval.”
“I control the voting trust.”
“Not after midnight.”
The clock above the stage showed 11:57 p.m.
Adrian looked at Victor.
“What happens at midnight?”
Victor’s voice was grim.
“The winter agreement automatically transfers three percent of your voting shares into a joint trust if the Beaumont merger is certified.”
“I never signed it.”
Reginald smiled.
“Your electronic authorization was received this morning.”
Adrian had signed nothing.
Elena remembered the false file in the east wing.
Someone had used the operation to access Adrian’s encrypted signature.
Marcus’s officers took Cassandra’s phone. Inside, they found messages to Liam, payments to the second server, photographs of Elena, and instructions to place her beside the ice display.
Cassandra stopped denying the assault.
Instead, she turned on her father.
“You told me Adrian would have no choice.”
Reginald’s face hardened.
“Be quiet.”
“You said Victor would control the board.”
“I said be quiet.”
Cassandra laughed, but tears brightened her eyes.
“You used me.”
Reginald did not answer.
Adrian understood.
Cassandra had committed the cruelty willingly, but the larger trap had been designed around her obsession.
“Who gave you the forged authorization?” Adrian asked.
Cassandra looked at Victor.
“His office.”
Victor shook his head.
“My office was breached.”
“Convenient,” Reginald said.
The clock changed to 11:58.
Elena pushed Adrian’s coat aside and tried to stand.
Adrian helped her.
“You should be sitting.”
“At midnight, someone takes your shares.”
“Marcus will stop the transfer.”
“No. The message said the second heir is coming home.”
She looked toward the childhood photograph on the screen.
“If Elias is alive and the trust recognizes him, the shares may not be going to Beaumont Bank.”
Victor’s face drained.
“Elena is right.”
“Explain,” Adrian said.
“The original Vale succession trust divides control between Richard’s surviving sons.”
“You said Elias was erased.”
“Publicly. Not from the oldest trust.”
Reginald checked his phone.
His confidence vanished.
The transfer destination had changed.
At 11:59, three percent of Vale Global moved into an account with no institutional owner.
The beneficiary field contained one name.
ELIAS VALE.
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The ballroom clock struck midnight.
Every locked door opened at once.
