Chapter 4 - THE SECRET UNDER THE EMPIRE
Sophie left the boardroom without explaining.
Daniel followed.
“What happened?”
She handed him the phone.
He read the message.
His face changed.
“Who knows?”
“Very few people.”
“How few?”
“My father. Me. His attorney.”
“Your father’s attorney is dead.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at the message again.
“Then someone found the records.”
Sophie walked faster.
Twenty-three years earlier, Charles Reed had nearly lost everything.
Not because of bad business.
Because of a crime.
He had bribed a city inspector during the construction of his first major hotel.
Nobody died.
Nobody was injured.
But the payment had happened.
Charles spent the rest of his career hiding it.
Then, five years before his death, he confessed everything to Sophie.
“I built something good on top of something rotten,” he had told her.
Sophie had begged him to go public.
He promised he would.
He never did.
Cancer moved faster.
Now somebody was using his mistake as a weapon.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“If this becomes public tonight, the board could panic.”
“It should become public.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
Sophie faced him.
“My father was wrong.”
“I understand that, but timing matters.”
“Truth doesn’t become less true because the timing is inconvenient.”
“Sophie, you’re in the middle of a hostile acquisition vote.”
She stared at him.
“Exactly.”
Back in the boardroom, Carter paced beside the window.
Victor shut the door.
Madison stood near the wall.
“What is going on?” she demanded.
Victor ignored her.
He looked at Carter.
“How much does she know?”
“I don’t know.”
“You told me the accounts were clean.”
“They are clean enough.”
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“There is no such thing as clean enough.”
Madison looked between them.
“What accounts?”
Neither man answered.
She stepped forward.
“Dad.”
Victor turned.
“Go home.”
“No.”
“Madison.”
“What did Carter do?”
Carter moved toward her.
“Nothing.”
She backed away.
“That is the exact face you make when you’re lying.”
Victor pointed toward the door.
“Leave.”
Madison laughed nervously.
“Are you serious?”
“Now.”
She stared at her father.
Something in his face scared her.
Not anger.
Fear.
Madison left.
The second the door closed, Victor turned on Carter.
“You need to control your girlfriend.”
“She’s your daughter.”
“And tonight she became your problem.”
Carter’s phone buzzed.
A message appeared.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
He exhaled.
Victor saw it.
“Is it done?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Every major business reporter in New York gets the file at midnight.”
Victor checked his watch.
11:21.
“Good.”
Carter smiled for the first time since Sophie had walked into the ballroom.
“Once the story breaks, she’ll spend the next month defending her father instead of looking at us.”
Victor stepped closer.
“You better hope so.”
Carter’s smile faded.
“Why?”
“Because Sophie Reed is not her father.”
“What does that mean?”
Victor looked toward the boardroom door.
“It means Charles could be pressured.”
“And Sophie?”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Sophie gets more dangerous when you corner her.”
Across the hall, Sophie opened her laptop.
She typed a short statement.
Daniel read over her shoulder.
“You’re really doing this?”
“Yes.”
She attached documents.
Signed testimony.
Her father’s private confession.
Everything.
Then she scheduled the release.
11:45 p.m.
Daniel stared at her.
“You just took away their weapon.”
“No.”
Sophie closed the laptop.
“I turned it around.”
Her phone rang.
Security.
Daniel answered.
His face went cold.
“What?”
Sophie stood.
“What happened?”
Daniel slowly lowered the phone.
“Someone just entered the financial archive.”
“That floor is restricted.”
“I know.”
“Who?”
May you like
Daniel looked at her.
“The access badge belongs to Madison Vale.”
