CHAPTER 6: THE DAY I LOST MY COMPANY
At eight fifty the next morning, I walked into Rowan Technologies headquarters carrying evidence that could destroy half the board.
Emily and Noah remained at the Portland house with Victoria, Mrs. Hale, and two police officers. Ethan and Miles had been arrested, but Daniel warned us not to celebrate.
Charles had influence.
Influence turned crimes into misunderstandings and witnesses into liabilities.
I entered the boardroom wearing yesterday’s clothes.
Seven directors sat around the black glass table. Charles occupied the chair at the far end.
He was sixty-seven, silver-haired, broad-shouldered, and composed. He had always looked more like a father to me than my father ever did.
“Merry Christmas, Gavin,” he said.
“You tried to kill the mother of my child.”
No one moved.
Charles folded his hands.
“I see grief has made you dramatic.”
I placed photographs of the broken kitchen window, the threatening message, and Emily’s damaged brake lines on the table.
“I also have two employees in custody.”
“Employees who appear to have acted independently.”
“They named you.”
“Criminals often blame powerful people.”
I looked at the directors.
“You’re voting to remove me based on information provided by this man.”
One director, Susan Keller, avoided my eyes.
Charles slid a document toward me.
“Your conduct over the past forty-eight hours has become increasingly erratic. You abandoned critical negotiations, physically attacked legal counsel, and assaulted members of corporate security.”
“They broke into a private residence.”
“That has not been established.”
“I have recordings.”
“You have stolen materials from a property you do not own.”
I realized he already knew about the attic.
He knew everything.
The board secretary cleared her throat.
“The motion concerns temporary removal pending an independent investigation.”
“Independent?” I looked around the table. “Charles selected every person in this room.”
Susan finally spoke.
“Gavin, perhaps stepping away briefly would protect the company.”
“The company is missing four hundred million dollars.”
Silence.
Charles did not blink.
I threw copies of the financial ledgers onto the table.
“Shell vendors. Overseas accounts. False acquisitions. You approved all of it.”
Director Samuel Price picked up one of the pages.
“This ledger is thirty years old.”
“The current transfers follow the same structure.”
Charles leaned back.
“Do you have audited proof?”
“Not yet.”
“Then you have accusations made by a woman who was declared mentally incompetent.”
“My mother was imprisoned under false medical orders.”
A ripple moved through the room.
Charles smiled sadly.
“Your mother is dead.”
“No. She’s alive.”
This time, the directors reacted.
I watched shock spread across their faces.
Charles’s expression remained unchanged.
“You’ve been deceived.”
“I saw her.”
“You saw a woman claiming to be Victoria.”
“She has records.”
“Fabricated records.”
“She has twenty-eight percent voting control.”
That was the moment his calm cracked.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
“So this is about shares,” he said. “A stranger appears with a convenient story, your ex-wife produces a baby, and suddenly they control the company.”
I stepped toward him.
“Careful.”
“No,” Charles replied. “You need to hear what everyone else is thinking. Did Emily ever prove the child is yours?”
“He is mine.”
“Because he has green eyes?”
My hands clenched.
Charles continued.
“She left you. Hid a pregnancy. Refused contact. Then introduced you to a newborn on the exact night a succession dispute began.”
The directors exchanged glances.
He had arranged every fact into a lie that sounded reasonable.
“She was protecting Noah.”
“From whom?”
“You.”
His answer was almost gentle.
“Gavin, your obsession with control ended your marriage. Now you’re forcing yourself into her home and declaring ownership of a child without a DNA test.”
“I never said ownership.”
“But that is how you behave.”
The board secretary looked at me.
“The vote must proceed.”
I played the cassette recording.
My father’s voice filled the room.
Then Charles’s younger voice.
And if Gavin never becomes ready?
Then we make sure he never has an heir.
Several directors stared at him.
For the first time, I thought I had won.
Then Charles laughed.
“Artificially generated audio.”
“What?”
“Rowan Technologies develops voice replication systems. Gavin has access to the most advanced synthetic media tools in the world.”
Samuel Price removed his glasses.
“He has a point.”
I looked around the table.
“You cannot be serious.”
Charles produced a report.
“This analysis was completed this morning. It indicates digital manipulation.”
He had prepared for the tape before I even knew it existed.
Someone at the Portland house had informed him.
My thoughts turned to every person there.
Victoria.
Daniel.
Mrs. Hale.
The police.
I no longer knew whom to trust.
The vote passed six to one.
Susan Keller was the only director who opposed my removal.
Security officers waited outside to escort me from the building I had led for sixteen years.
Charles stood as I gathered the documents.
“This is temporary,” he said.
“You won’t be here when I return.”
His smile disappeared.
In the elevator, Susan joined me before the doors closed.
“I’m sorry.”
“You could have warned me.”
“I didn’t know how far he would go.”
“What changed your vote?”
She glanced at the ceiling camera.
“Not here.”
We walked into the underground garage.
Susan handed me a flash drive.
“I’ve been tracking unusual payments for eight months. Charles discovered the audit last week.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“Because Marcus Vale told me you approved them.”
Marcus.
My CFO.
My closest friend since college.
The man who had introduced me to Emily at a charity gala.
“What’s on the drive?”
“Payment records, internal messages, and security logs. But the most important file is a video.”
She looked frightened.
“Video of what?”
“Emily entering headquarters the day she came to tell you she was pregnant.”
My chest tightened.
“Why does that matter?”
“Because she didn’t leave after receiving the divorce papers.”
Susan looked toward the garage entrance.
“She was taken upstairs.”
“To whom?”
“Marcus.”
The name hit me harder than Charles’s betrayal.
Susan continued.
“The security footage shows Emily entering his office. She remained there for forty-three minutes. When she left, she was crying.”
I called Emily immediately.
She answered on the second ring.
“Gavin?”
“What happened with Marcus?”
Silence.
“What do you mean?”
“The day you came to tell me you were pregnant. You met Marcus.”
Her breathing changed.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Tell me.”
“Not over the phone.”
“What did he say to you?”
Another silence.
Then she whispered, “He told me you had known about the baby for weeks.”
I stopped walking.
“How?”
“He said your medical office informed you after I used our insurance at the clinic. He showed me an email with your approval to proceed with the divorce.”
“I never wrote it.”
“I know that now.”
“What else?”
“He offered me money.”
“How much?”
“Five million dollars.”
“To leave?”
“To terminate the pregnancy.”
The garage tilted beneath me.
“What did you say?”
“I threw the check at him.”
I closed my eyes.
Marcus had stood beside me through my father’s funeral. He had toasted my marriage. He had called Emily his friend.
“Why didn’t you tell me later?”
“He said if I contacted you, he would release medical records claiming the baby had a serious genetic condition. He said your board would use the pregnancy to remove you and that you would blame me for destroying your company.”
“I would never blame you.”
“At that time, Gavin, I wasn’t sure.”
A car engine roared at the far end of the garage.
A black sedan accelerated toward Susan and me.
“Move!”
I grabbed her arm and pulled her behind a concrete pillar.
The sedan struck her parked car, crushing the driver’s side.
Glass exploded across the floor.
The vehicle reversed and sped toward the exit.
Susan stared after it.
“They know I gave you the drive.”
My phone rang.
Marcus Vale’s name appeared on the screen.
I answered.
“You tried to have us killed.”
His voice was calm.
“No, Gavin. I’m trying to save you.”
“From what?”
“From the mistake you’re about to make.”
“You threatened Emily.”
“I protected the company.”
“You told her to end my child’s life.”
“The baby was a complication.”
I nearly crushed the phone in my hand.
Marcus continued.
“Come to the penthouse alone. I’ll explain everything.”
“Why would I trust you?”
“Because Charles doesn’t know your mother’s real secret.”
“What secret?”
Marcus paused.
“Victoria didn’t return to protect Noah.”
May you like
His next words left me unable to breathe.
“She returned because Noah may not be the only Rowan heir.”
