Chapter 4 - HE WAS PLANNING TO RUN
“Where?”
I was already moving toward the door.
Claire whispered, “Geneva.”
Diane stood.
“Do not go back there.”
“He has documents.”
“We don’t know what he has.”
“That’s why I’m going.”
My father stepped in front of me.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Dad.”
“If Julian knows he’s exposed, he may be dangerous.”
“He’s my husband.”
“That stopped protecting you approximately forty-five minutes ago.”
The words hurt because they were true.
I looked at Diane.
“Can security remove him now?”
“Not until the board resolution passes.”
“What happens if he leaves the country?”
“We notify authorities if we establish probable financial fraud.”
“If?”
Diane’s expression didn’t change.
“Suspicions are not evidence.”
I hated lawyers in moments like that.
Then my phone rang again.
Claire.
I answered.
“Elena, he’s coming downstairs.”
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.”
“What did he take from the safe?”
“I couldn’t see everything. A flash drive. Some papers. Cash.”
“How much?”
“Maybe fifty thousand.”
My father swore quietly.
Then Claire said, “There’s something else.”
“What?”
“He told Vanessa to pack only one bag.”
I looked at the clock.
12:36 a.m.
Less than five hours until their flight.
“Claire, listen carefully. Leave the building.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I copied something.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“There’s a file on Mr. Mercer’s private server.”
Julian had insisted on maintaining a separate executive server that even our IT team couldn’t access without authorization.
I had argued against it.
He called me paranoid.
“What file?”
Claire whispered.
“It’s called Phoenix.”
Diane’s head snapped up.
My father walked closer.
“What’s in it?”
“I don’t know. It’s encrypted.”
“Where is the copy?”
“I put it on a drive.”
“Bring it to us.”
“I’m trying.”
A door slammed on the other end.
Claire stopped breathing.
Then Julian spoke.
Not to me.
To her.
“Claire?”
Silence.
“Why are you still here?”
My grip tightened around the phone.
Claire said, too brightly, “Just finishing tomorrow’s schedule.”
Julian laughed once.
“There is no tomorrow’s schedule.”
My father’s face went hard.
Julian continued.
“Go home.”
“Yes, sir.”
Footsteps.
Then the line went dead.
I stared at the phone.
“Send someone.”
My father already was.
At 12:51 a.m., two members of our private security team were sent to pick up Claire.
At 1:03, the board call began.
Seven directors.
Four time zones.
Three angry voices.
One terrified chief financial officer.
Julian wasn’t invited.
Diane presented the forged authorizations first.
No one interrupted.
Then the suspicious transfers.
Then the false asset certificates.
A director named Harold Greene finally spoke.
“Robert, are you accusing our CEO of fraud?”
My father answered calmly.
“No.”
Everyone waited.
“I’m showing you evidence.”
The vote took eleven minutes.
Seven to zero.
Effective immediately, Julian Mercer was suspended as CEO and stripped of executive authority pending investigation.
Diane clicked Send.
“Done.”
I should have felt relief.
Instead, my phone rang again.
Security.
My father answered.
“Yes?”
He listened.
His face changed.
“What do you mean she never came out?”
I stood.
“Claire?”
He put the phone on speaker.
The security officer spoke.
“We searched the employee exit and garage. Claire Bennett’s car is still here.”
“Call her.”
“We did.”
“And?”
“No answer.”
I grabbed my coat.
Then the officer added, “Mrs. Vale?”
“Yes?”
“We checked the cameras.”
My father frowned.
“What did you see?”
May you like
A pause.
“Julian Mercer put Claire Bennett into his car eleven minutes ago.”
