Chapter 6: Forty-Seven Minutes Until Midnight
Margaret locked the study door while Ethan called an emergency meeting of the Whitmore board.
Vanessa sat calmly beside the fireplace.
“A disputed signature won’t stop the transfer,” she said.
“My father owns enough debt to bury you in court.”
Arthur looked at Adrian.
“You witnessed this document.”
Adrian adjusted his cuffs.
“Your electronic signature was applied from your office.”
“I was in London on that date.”
“Then someone used your computer.”
Vanessa lifted one shoulder.
“Careless men lose companies every day.”
Naomi stepped closer.
“And careless women drop phones containing evidence.”
“You think one message proves anything?”
“It proves someone helped you plant the earrings.”
Adrian’s gaze moved toward the phone in Ethan’s hand.
Vanessa noticed.
“You sent that message,” Naomi said to him.
“I advise Miss Sterling.
I do not hide jewelry.”
Vanessa crossed her legs.
“Adrian, stop answering the staff.”
Ethan took Naomi into the empty breakfast room while Margaret connected the board call.
His hand remained on the door.
“If we lose the company, my father will blame you,” he said.
“Vanessa will make sure everyone does.”
“Then let me leave.”
“No.”
“Ethan, hundreds of people could lose everything because you refuse her.”
He stepped closer.
“Would you ask me to marry someone who framed you?”
“I’m asking you not to sacrifice them for me.”
“This is not only about you.” His voice broke.
“It is about the fact that I hid in the kitchen with you because I was too cowardly to stand beside you in daylight.”
Naomi’s eyes filled.
“I waited for you to say that.”
“I love you.”
“That doesn’t erase what you failed to do.”
“I know.
Tell me the truth anyway.”
She pressed both hands against his chest.
“I love you too, and I hated myself for it because I thought loving you would make me weak again.”
Ethan covered her hands with his.
“Then we stop hiding, whether we win or lose.”
In the study, board members appeared across the large monitor.
Vanessa stood behind Arthur’s chair as if it already belonged to her.
“The transfer is valid,” she said.
“Any delay will trigger default.”
Margaret connected Lucy’s brass key to the bank’s digital retrieval record.
“The original Philadelphia recording is being delivered to federal investigators, along with the access log showing who deleted my archive copy.”
Adrian’s face changed.
Vanessa pointed at Margaret.
“That has nothing to do with the loan.”
Beatrice placed the replica-earring receipt before the camera.
“This does.”
Arthur held up the forged transfer.
“And so does this.”
A board member leaned toward his screen.
“Mr.
Cole, did you approve the electronic signature?”
Adrian swallowed.
“I followed instructions provided by Sterling Capital.”
“Whose instructions?”
Vanessa stepped toward the laptop.
“This meeting is over.”
Naomi caught her wrist before she could close it.
“No.
You wanted an audience.
Now you have one.”
Vanessa pulled free and reached for her phone.
Ethan read the new message before she could hide it.
“It’s from Conrad Sterling,” he said.
“‘Plane ready.
Bring the passports.
Adrian will erase the rest.’”
Adrian backed toward the door.
“That message is fabricated.”
Margaret raised her phone.
“You just said Vanessa’s device contained no useful evidence.
How did you know which message he meant?”
May you like
No one moved.
Then the lights in the study went out, and Vanessa ran.
