Chapter 10 - Adrian’s Missing Night
Adrian remembered the board retreat where his father died.
He remembered drinking whiskey with Julian.
He remembered waking the next morning in a guest room.
Everything between midnight and sunrise was blank.
Dr. Pierce had told him grief and exhaustion caused the memory loss.
Grace carried proof that Adrian had been drugged.
Security footage showed him being led into Richard’s room at 2:14 a.m.
A proxy document was placed before him.
His hand was guided across the signature line.
The document transferred emergency control of Vale Global to Adrian.
Richard died twenty minutes later.
Adrian became chief executive by morning.
“You benefited from the death,” Grace said.
“That made Dad suspect you.”
“I never knew.”
“I believe you now.”
“But Michael didn’t know that when he wrote the list.”
Julian had spent years holding the same footage over Adrian.
He convinced Charles that Adrian remembered the night.
He convinced Adrian that Charles possessed evidence of a crime.
Every man feared the other.
Julian remained safely between them.
Ethan began coughing violently.
Paramedics escorted him and Grace upstairs.
Celeste refused to leave until Adrian answered one question.
“Did you ever love me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you hide Grace?”
“Because your father threatened every witness who approached me.”
“I did not know which member of your family I could trust.”
Celeste looked away.
“You were right not to trust me.”
She admitted that Julian contacted her one year earlier.
He showed her photographs of Ethan in captivity.
He ordered her to begin a relationship with Adrian.
The engagement was engineered.
The wedding date was selected to coincide with a Vale Global emergency board provision.
If Adrian became incapacitated during the ceremony, his new spouse could claim immediate proxy authority before the board opened the following morning.
Celeste had never planned to kill him.
She intended to sign the proxy, free Ethan, and return control after Adrian recovered.
Julian never intended to let Adrian recover.
Marcus received a message from the tactical team.
Julian’s location had been traced to the estate’s private chapel.
He was not alone.
Twenty members of the Vale Global board were inside.
The board meeting had begun secretly.
Julian was presenting evidence that Adrian had murdered Richard.
If the board believed him, Adrian would be removed before sunrise.
Adrian looked at Nora.
“Your father’s watch is the only evidence that can stop him.”
May you like
Nora closed her hand around it.
“Then we take the truth to the board.”
