Chapter 3 - The Vote Nobody Mentioned
The emergency board meeting had been scheduled for nine the next morning.
Marcus had almost forgotten about it.
Now it felt like a loaded weapon.
Khloe watched his expression change.
“What are they voting on?”
Marcus looked toward Damian.
“My position.”
Khloe frowned.
“Your position as chairman?”
“Yes.”
Damian pulled a chair closer.
“Explain.”
Marcus rubbed his forehead.
“For the past six months, someone has been quietly buying Thorne Global shares through private investment companies.”
“How much?”
“Enough to create a voting bloc.”
“Who?”
“We haven't been able to identify them.”
Khloe immediately understood.
“And tomorrow?”
“They're proposing a vote to remove me as acting chairman for financial mismanagement.”
“Did you mismanage anything?”
“No.”
Marcus looked at her.
“But somebody made it look like I did.”
Millions of dollars had vanished through consulting contracts Marcus had never approved.
The documents carried his electronic authorization.
His legal department had spent weeks trying to discover how the signatures had been created.
Khloe whispered the obvious question.
“If you lose the vote, who takes over?”
Marcus's answer came slowly.
“My mother becomes interim chair.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Damian stood.
“We need Victoria here.”
Marcus hesitated.
“No.”
Khloe looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because if she is involved, bringing her here tells her we know.”
Damian nodded reluctantly.
Khloe shifted against the pillows and winced.
Marcus instinctively moved toward her.
She lifted one hand.
“Don't.”
The word hit harder than he expected.
“Khloe.”
“You didn't tell me about Isabella.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That you'd think I still wanted her.”
Khloe's eyes filled with disbelief.
“I don't care that you had a girlfriend before me.”
“She wasn't just a girlfriend.”
Marcus looked down.
“I almost proposed.”
Khloe went quiet.
“She believed we were going to get married.”
“What happened?”
“My father introduced me to you at the Hale Foundation dinner.”
Marcus remembered the evening perfectly.
Khloe had been arguing with a senator about pediatric medical funding.
She had never once looked impressed by Marcus's name.
He had fallen in love faster than he wanted to admit.
“I ended things with Isabella two weeks later.”
“And she blamed me.”
“Yes.”
Khloe turned toward the window.
Marcus continued.
“I thought she eventually moved on.”
“She didn't.”
“No.”
Damian's phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
“I've got the first trace on Isabella's second phone.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“The encrypted number?”
“It bounced through servers overseas.”
“So nothing.”
“Not exactly.”
Damian showed them a hospital access log.
“The device connected automatically to a private Wi-Fi network downstairs during the gala.”
“What network?”
“The executive network belonging to the Thorne Foundation.”
Marcus stared.
Only six people had access.
Marcus.
Khloe.
Victoria Thorne.
Chief Financial Officer Adrian Vale.
Corporate attorney Warren Sloan.
And Elaine Parker.
Khloe looked toward the door.
Elaine had been one of the people who discovered her after the attack.
She had also organized the gala.
Damian made a call.
“Bring Elaine Parker upstairs.”
Nobody spoke while they waited.
Five minutes later, a security officer returned alone.
“Sir.”
“Where is she?”
“Gone.”
Damian frowned.
“She left the hospital twelve minutes ago.”
Marcus looked toward the clock.
Elaine had disappeared almost immediately after learning that the security video existed.
Then Damian's phone rang again.
His cyber chief sounded urgent.
They had recovered another deleted file from Isabella's device.
Not a message.
A photograph.
Damian opened it.
Khloe's blood ran cold.
The picture showed Victoria Thorne seated at a restaurant table.
Across from her sat Isabella.
Between them lay a folder.
May you like
Printed across the folder were three words.
SUCCESSION CONTINGENCY PLAN.
