Chapter 6 - THE BOARDROOM VOTE
By six that evening, rain covered Manhattan in silver. Summit
Development’s boardroom glowed forty floors above the street, its
long glass table reflecting twelve leather chairs and a wall of city
lights. Evelyn Mercer sat at the head as if nothing in the world
could remove her.
The board members had been told the emergency meeting concerned
“leadership continuity.” They did not know police investigators
occupied two floors below.
Emily entered with Daniel and Detective Ortiz. Conversation stopped.
Evelyn looked at Emily’s black coat, then at the cleaning badge
still clipped to her bag from the previous night.
“How theatrical,” she said. Emily walked to the table.
“No. The theatrical part was hiring me to clean the evidence you
planned to use against me.” Two board members exchanged confused
looks.
Evelyn remained calm. “Detective, is this really necessary?”
Ortiz handed a warrant to Summit’s general counsel. “It is.”
Blake entered next. He had no attorney beside him now.
His face was gray with exhaustion. Evelyn’s expression finally
changed.
Not fear. Contempt.
“You disappoint me with astonishing consistency,” she said. Blake
stopped several feet from her.
“I learned from the person who raised me.” The board erupted into
whispers.
Daniel connected a laptop to the room’s display. The Apex Works
documents appeared on the wall.
Then the ledger. Then Thomas’s letter.
Evelyn leaned back. “Documents can be misunderstood.”
Ortiz replied, “Audio is harder.” Thomas Mercer’s voice filled the
room.
I am not suicidal. The effect was immediate.
One board member covered his mouth. Another stood.
Evelyn did not move. When the recording ended, she looked at Blake.
“You opened the box.” “Yes.”
“You had one final opportunity to protect your children’s
inheritance.” Emily’s voice cut through the room.
“By stealing it?” Evelyn looked at her.
“You still think money is the point.” Emily felt a chill.
Evelyn turned to the board. “Summit exists because I financed
failure after failure while these two played entrepreneur. Thomas
was sentimental. Emily was ambitious. Blake was weak. I created
discipline.”
Blake stared at her. “Did you kill him?”
The room went silent. Evelyn smiled without warmth.
“You should never ask a question when you are not prepared for the
answer.” Ortiz stepped forward.
“Mrs. Mercer, do not leave this room.” Evelyn ignored her.
Instead, she touched the tablet before her. The wall display
changed.
A legal transfer document appeared. Voting rights from the Noah
Mercer Carter Trust and Lily Mercer Carter Trust to Mercer Family
Holdings III.
Emily’s chest tightened. Evelyn tapped SIGN.
Nothing happened. She tapped again.
ACCESS DENIED. For the first time, confusion crossed her face.
Megan Brooks appeared on the screen from a secure hospital room. A
bruise marked her temple, but she was smiling.
“I revoked the authorization token forty minutes ago.” Evelyn stood.
“You.” Megan’s smile disappeared.
“You should have fired me when you realized I could read.” Ortiz’s
officers moved closer.
Evelyn looked toward Howard’s empty chair. Then the doors opened.
Howard Bennett entered with two federal agents. He carried the
missing black laptop bag.
Blake laughed once, bitterly. “Of course.”
Howard avoided everyone’s eyes. “I have an agreement,” he said.
Evelyn’s face hardened. Howard placed a stack of notarized originals
on the table.
“I kept copies of every authorization Evelyn instructed me to
falsify.” Daniel whispered to Emily, “That is enough to set half
this building on fire legally.”
Howard continued. “I also kept instructions regarding Thomas
Mercer’s medication.”
Blake closed his eyes. Evelyn’s control finally cracked.
“You pathetic old coward.” Howard looked at her.
“Yes.” Then he added, “But I am a living coward.”
Federal agents approached Evelyn. She looked at Emily.
“This is what you wanted?” Emily shook her head.
“No.” Evelyn almost smiled.
“I wanted my children safe. You kept confusing that with weakness.”
Ortiz read Evelyn her rights.
As agents secured her wrists, Evelyn leaned toward Emily. “You think
this ends because I leave the room?”
Emily held her gaze. “It ends because people stopped being afraid of
you.”
Evelyn’s eyes flicked to Blake. He looked away.
Then she was escorted out. For several seconds, no one spoke.
The city flashed beyond the windows. A board member finally cleared
his throat.
“We still have a governance crisis.” Emily almost laughed.
Daniel did not. “The company may also have criminal exposure.”
Summit’s general counsel nodded miserably. Blake looked around the
room that had once represented everything he wanted.
Then he removed his CEO access card. “I resign.”
One board member began to object. Blake set the card on the table.
“I also waive any attempt to challenge Emily’s historical ownership
interest until the forensic accounting is complete.” Emily stared at
him.
He met her eyes. “I can’t undo what I did.”
“No.” “I know.”
He looked at the cleaning badge on her bag. “I thought making you
look small would make me look powerful.”
Emily said nothing. Blake continued.
“It only proved how small I had become.” The words were not
forgiveness.
They were not enough. But they were true.
Ortiz approached Emily. “We found something else in the trust
transfer packet.”
She handed over a printed page. A beneficiary schedule.
Noah and Lily were listed. So was a third name.
Unknown to Emily. Unknown to Blake.
CLAIRE MERCER — AGE 34. Blake stared at it.
“My mother only had one child.” Ortiz looked toward the door through
which Evelyn had disappeared. “Apparently,” she said, “that is
May you like
another thing she lied about.”
“Apparently,” she said, “that is another thing she lied about.”
