Chapter 8 - The Forty-Eight-Hour Trap
Charlotte finally understood the architecture of the theft.
Nathaniel had controlled her shares.
Margaret’s company had loaned him money against those same shares.
When the debt came due, Northstar could seize them legally.
They had been preparing to transfer Charlotte’s inheritance permanently.
The gala had interrupted the final step.
Sebastian looked around the boardroom.
“Who approved this?”
Three directors avoided his eyes.
Victor Hale cleared his throat.
“Nathaniel had executive authority.”
Charlotte turned toward him.
“You signed the collateral resolution.”
Victor stiffened.
“I relied on legal counsel.”
“Which counsel?”
Silence.
Daniel handed Charlotte another file.
She opened it.
The law firm advising Nathaniel had received twelve million dollars from Northstar.
Charlotte smiled without humor.
Everyone had been paid.
Sebastian wanted the entire board suspended.
Charlotte stopped him.
“If we remove everyone now, Nathaniel knows exactly who is against him.”
Sebastian looked at her.
“What are you suggesting?”
“We let him think the deal is still possible.”
The room went quiet.
Charlotte had spent years surviving jobs where rich people assumed she was invisible.
She had learned something from them.
People revealed the most when they thought nobody important was listening.
Charlotte proposed allowing the loan deadline to continue.
Meanwhile, auditors would trace every account connected to Northstar.
“If Nathaniel wants those shares, he’ll have to surface.”
Victor Hale laughed nervously.
“You have no corporate experience.”
Charlotte looked at him.
“No.”
Then she pointed toward the fraudulent contracts.
“But apparently neither do you.”
Sebastian almost smiled.
The board authorized an independent forensic audit.
Six hours later, investigators found another problem.
Northstar did not actually possess nine hundred million dollars.
Its money had come from a private trust account.
The account belonged to somebody named Claire Valle.
Charlotte had never heard the name.
Sebastian had.
He became pale.
“My sister.”
Charlotte frowned.
“You had a sister?”
“She died forty-one years ago.”
The trust had remained untouched for decades.
Someone had been draining it using forged signatures.
Sebastian whispered, “Nathaniel stole from the dead.”
Then Daniel received an alert.
A private aircraft registered to Victor Hale’s company had requested departure from Westchester County Airport.
Destination unknown.
Passenger manifest unavailable.
Charlotte turned toward Victor.
His chair was empty.
He had left the boardroom ten minutes earlier.
Charlotte grabbed her bag.
Daniel asked where she was going.
“To the airport.”
Sebastian started to object.
Charlotte was already moving.
May you like
“If Victor is running, he knows where Nathaniel is.”
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