Chapter 14 - The Emergency Vote
Ward Global’s headquarters filled with reporters before Alex arrived.
Security tried to move him through a private entrance.
He refused.
He walked through the main lobby with Lucia on one side and Naomi on the other.
Sofi remained at a protected apartment with Julian’s sister.
Cameras flashed.
Questions struck from every direction.
“Did you abduct your fiancée?”
“Are you mentally competent?”
“Did a child stop your wedding?”
Alex did not answer.
On the sixty-second floor, eleven directors waited around the boardroom table.
Marcus appeared through a secure video connection.
He claimed he was hiding because Alex had threatened his life.
Charles sat beside him.
Genevieve had signed a statement accusing Marcus of fraud, but Charles called it coerced.
The board chair, Evelyn Shaw, opened the meeting.
“Alexander, serious concerns have been raised regarding your judgment.”
Alex placed Javier’s drive on the table.
“Then examine my judgment after you examine the evidence.”
Charles objected through the screen.
“That material was stolen.”
“It belonged to a dead employee your scheme helped kill,” Lucia said.
Several directors looked at her uniform.
One appeared irritated that a housekeeper had spoken inside the boardroom.
Alex noticed.
“Lucia Herrera has the floor.”
Naomi projected Thomas Ward’s confession.
No one interrupted.
The directors watched the founder admit to hidden accounts, regulatory deception, and the cover-up surrounding Javier’s death.
Marcus disconnected before the video ended.
Ruiz’s agents traced the connection.
It came from a private Prescott Foundation office in Manhattan.
Teams moved immediately.
Charles remained on screen.
He called Thomas a dying man under medication.
Naomi then displayed bank transfers linking Charles to the shell companies.
One director removed his glasses.
Another whispered that the company was finished.
Evelyn Shaw turned toward Alex.
“You knew nothing about this?”
“Not until today.”
“Then you failed to control your own organization.”
“Yes.”
The admission startled them.
Alex continued.
“I failed because I trusted titles more than people.”
“I knew Marcus’s compensation package.”
“I did not know the name of the safety engineer who died protecting this company from him.”
Lucia looked at him.
Alex placed his resignation letter on the table.
“I will step down after the evidence is delivered to federal authorities.”
“But you will not remove me before I make the disclosure public.”
The directors began arguing.
At that moment, the doors opened.
Genevieve entered wearing prison-issued clothing beneath a borrowed coat.
Ruiz escorted her.
Genevieve looked directly at Charles on the screen.
“My father knew everything.”
Charles shouted for the connection to be terminated.
Genevieve held up her phone.
“I recorded him ordering Marcus to silence Sofi.”
The boardroom became still.
Then a message appeared on the main screen.
It came from Marcus.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THE CHILD STAY QUIET.
May you like
A second message followed.
NOW HER MOTHER PAYS.
