Chapter 9 - The Master Stroke
The board members began flipping through the pages, their eyes widening.
The evidence was clear, meticulous, and impossible to deny.
Marcus had spent the last three hours tracking the exact flow of money.
Arthur stood up, his chair scraping loudly against the floor.
"This is a fabrication!" Arthur shouted, his face turning red. "An desperate attempt to deflect from your own madness!"
"You're unstable, Everett! Everyone knows it!"
"Am I?" Everett asked quietly.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small digital recorder.
He placed it on the table and hit play.
A voice filled the room. It was Maribelle's voice from the phone call earlier.
If you don't transfer fifty percent of Vale Industries' shares to my holding account by tomorrow night...
I'll tell the press that you threw your own daughter into the pool in a fit of rage.
The board members looked at Arthur in horror.
"That proves nothing!" Arthur stammered, his confidence crumbling.
"That's a recording of a woman I don't even know! You can't link her to me!"
"I don't need to link her to you, Arthur," Everett said, stepping away from the table.
"She already did it herself."
Everett looked toward the doors.
The doors opened again.
Two federal agents in dark suits walked into the room.
Between them, in handcuffs, was Maribelle.
She was no longer wearing the crimson gown. She wore a simple gray sweatshirt, her hair tangled.
She looked defeated, her eyes fixed on the floor.
Arthur gasped, stepping back until his knees hit the window ledge.
"Julianne..." Arthur whispered, his voice cracking.
Maribelle looked up, her eyes full of venom as she stared at Arthur.
"He found the Sterling files, Arthur," she said, her voice shaking with anger.
"He knew everything before we even started tonight."
"You told me this would be easy. You told me he was weak."
"He's not weak."
The federal agent stepped forward, looking at Arthur.
"Arthur Pendleton, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, corporate fraud, and insider trading."
Arthur looked at the agents, then at the board, and finally at Everett.
"Everett, please," Arthur begged, his voice cracking. "We were partners. We built this together."
"You tried to kill my daughter, Arthur," Everett said, his voice completely devoid of emotion.
"The partnership ended the moment you let her near my house."
As the agents led Arthur and Maribelle away in handcuffs, the boardroom remained silent.
The remaining members looked at Everett with a newfound sense of awe and fear.
He had not just saved his company; he had destroyed his enemies with surgical precision.
Everett turned back to the table.
May you like
"Now," Everett said, adjusting his cuffs. "About the Apex merger."
"Let's vote."
