Chapter 13 - The Wrong Traitor.
The conference floor felt unnaturally bright after the darkness of the service corridors.
White ceiling lights reflected off polished stone and glass walls.
Claire hated how normal it looked.
The world should not have looked normal while her dead mother stood beside her and her father explained a secret war built by men she had known only as names.
The board meeting would begin in nine minutes.
Adrian led them into a small strategy room and locked the door.
Daniel placed Simon’s tablet on the table.
“I found something else.”
Simon sat across from him.
“Of course you did.”
Daniel ignored the sarcasm.
“The Meridian certificate on your tablet was installed four months ago.”
Simon frowned.
“I’ve had that tablet for two years.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel turned the screen around.
“The installation happened at 2:14 a.m. while the device was connected to the executive network.”
Adrian asked, “Where was Simon?”
Daniel checked the access log.
“London.”
Simon stared.
“I was at the Kensington acquisition.”
Claire remembered.
She had seen photographs from the event.
“Then someone had physical access to your office.”
Simon looked at Adrian.
“Elias.”
Adrian’s expression did not change.
Simon leaned forward.
“He covered my portfolio while I was in London.”
Daniel nodded.
“That would fit.”
Claire looked at him.
“So Elias installed Meridian access and then accused Simon of being compromised.”
Jonathan folded his arms.
“Maybe.”
Anna shook her head.
“Too easy.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You think Elias was framed.”
“I think everyone in this room has been given evidence that points one step sideways.”
Daniel nodded reluctantly.
“Someone wants us rotating suspects.”
Claire thought of the photographs.
Elias had brought them.
Then the second phone.
Then the stolen drive.
Everything around Elias screamed guilt.
Maybe too loudly.
Adrian called him.
Elias answered on the second ring.
“You finally ready to come upstairs?”
“Not yet.”
“Then you’re running out of time.”
“Why did you install a Meridian certificate on Simon’s tablet?”
Silence.
Simon looked vindicated.
Elias finally answered.
“I didn’t.”
Simon laughed.
“Predictable.”
Elias heard him.
“Simon is with you?”
“Yes,” Adrian said.
“Good.”
Elias’s tone changed.
“Ask him where his tablet was the night Martin died.”
Simon went still.
Claire noticed immediately.
Adrian did too.
“Answer,” Adrian said.
Simon looked irritated.
“I don’t remember.”
Elias laughed through the phone.
“I do.”
Simon’s face hardened.
“Shut up.”
Adrian looked at him.
Elias continued.
“It was with me.”
Claire stared at Simon.
“Why?”
Elias answered.
“Because Simon asked me to run a midnight board package while he was at home.”
Simon stood.
“That proves nothing.”
Elias continued.
“I left the tablet in Conference Room C for twenty minutes.”
Daniel looked at Adrian.
“That could be the installation window.”
Elias said, “When I came back, Charles was in the room.”
Everyone became silent.
Simon slowly sat again.
Adrian asked, “Did you tell Martin?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The night he died.”
Claire’s pulse jumped.
Elias continued.
“Martin called me after I sent him a copy of the device logs.”
“He told me to meet him outside the city.”
“That is why I was near the crash site.”
Adrian closed his eyes briefly.
For eight months he had hated Elias for lying.
Now the lie had a shape.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Elias’s voice broke slightly.
“Because when I reached the road, Martin’s car was already over the barrier.”
No one moved.
“I called Charles first,” Elias continued.
“Not you.”
Adrian opened his eyes.
“Why?”
“Because I panicked.”
Adrian listened to Elias describe the crash site and remembered the rain that night.
He had been at a charity dinner when the call came.
Charles reached the hospital before he did, even though no one could later explain who had notified him first.
At the time, Adrian was grateful.
Charles handled the police, the lawyers, and the first calls to the board.
He protected Adrian from details while Adrian identified Martin's body.
Now every kindness from that night had to be examined again.
That was another cruelty of betrayal.
It did not only poison the future.
It traveled backward and demanded that old memories be reopened like evidence bags.
Adrian hated Charles for making him suspicious of grief that had once seemed private.
“And Charles told me if I mentioned Meridian, the police would decide I had arranged the meeting and caused the crash.”
Claire looked at Adrian.
Elias continued.
“He knew exactly what I had sent Martin.”
“That is when I realized Charles had access to everything.”
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“You let me bury my brother believing you were in Boston.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me defend you.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was afraid.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Elias spoke quietly.
“I am still afraid.”
The honesty changed the room.
Simon looked down.
Anna watched Adrian carefully.
Claire knew this was the moment when anger could become a bad decision.
She put one hand on Adrian’s wrist.
He looked at her.
“Later,” she said softly.
He understood.
The board meeting notification chimed.
Five minutes.
Elias said, “There’s one more thing.”
Adrian stared at the phone.
“What?”
“I never threatened to publish the Ledger.”
Simon looked up.
Adrian frowned.
“The messages came from your number.”
“My phone was cloned.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
Elias continued.
“I came to the roof because I received the same message you did.”
Claire felt cold.
“What did yours say?”
A photograph arrived on Adrian’s phone.
Elias had forwarded the message.
The text read:
BRING THE DRIVE TO THE ROOF OR ADRIAN VALE DIES BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
Claire looked at the clock.
May you like
It was 11:47 p.m.
DON'T WAKE THE BOSS
