When she entered with Lucas, Lily, Naomi, and Margaret Shaw, conversation stopped.
Victor recovered first.
“This is a closed session.”
Evelyn removed her coat.
“Then you should not have distributed a forged resignation bearing my name.”
One director lifted his copy.
“Victor told us you suffered a breakdown at the gala.”
“Victor lured me into an unapproved room, blocked the security camera, and ordered me to sign that document while two men guarded the door.”
Victor gave a weary laugh.
“This is absurd.”
“There was also a vial,” Lucas said.
“Clear liquid.
Medical pouch.
Silver zipper.
It sat to your right beside the folder.”
Victor’s eyes flicked toward him.
Margaret noticed.
So did the directors.
Victor folded his hands.
“Mr.
Hayes is an audiovisual contractor who appears to have developed an unhealthy attachment to our CEO.
His presence here proves nothing.”
“My husband is here as a witness,” Evelyn said.
The room erupted.
Victor stood so quickly his chair rolled backward.
“That claim is false.”
Naomi placed the certified marriage license on the table.
“It was filed this morning,” she said.
“I witnessed it personally.”
Victor stared at the stamp.
The blood left his face.
Margaret slid a second document beside it: confirmation from the trust administrator that the controlling shares had transferred to Evelyn at 8:39.
“Under Article Seven,” Margaret said, “Ms.
Carter now holds fifty-two percent of Harrington Consolidated’s voting authority.
Mr.
Hale’s temporary trusteeship is terminated immediately.”
Victor looked around the table, searching for the directors who had always followed him.
No one spoke.
Evelyn remained standing.
“My first action as controlling shareholder is to remove Victor Hale as chief financial officer pending a criminal investigation.
My second is to suspend the security director who reassigned cameras at the Meridian Grand.
My third is to authorize an independent forensic audit of every account under Victor’s control.”
Victor’s composure broke.
“You cannot do this based on the word of a man you married an hour ago.”
“I am not.”
Evelyn nodded to Lucas.
He opened his equipment bag and removed a wireless receiver.
Victor stared at it.
Lucas set it on the table.
“The ballroom microphones used relay channels.
Your room was beside the service rack.
One transmitter was left active after rehearsal.”
That was true, though Lucas had not understood its importance until dawn.
During the escape from his apartment, he had remembered the interference signal blinking on his receiver the night before.
The transmitter in the fake lounge had been broadcasting on an unused channel.
