PART 10:

He was not going to let Victor Cain take this from them. He made pasta. He helped with fractions. He put Lily to bed at 9:15, and she was asleep by 9:20. At 9:45, a message came in from Charlotte. No preamble. He knows we have the audio. Diane just texted me. He found the file access log tonight.

He’s not waiting for tomorrow morning. Ethan read it twice. He’s not waiting. Ethan typed back, “How long do we have?” Her answer came in 12 seconds. “Sandra just got a call from Gerald Foss. Emergency board session moved to 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, not 9:00. 7:00.” He processed that. Kane wasn’t walking into a board room where they had time to present.

He was crashing the timeline, moving before the full evidence package could be properly received. Moving while everyone was off balance, early, unprepared. Ethan looked at the clock on his phone. 9:52 p.m. 7:00 a.m. was 9 hours and 8 minutes away. He typed back, “I’ll be there at 6:00.” Her reply, “I’ll be there at 5:00.

” He set the phone down on the kitchen table. Outside, Chicago was doing what it always did, moving, breathing, completely indifferent to whatever was about to happen in a board room on the 43rd floor of the Harrington Tower. Ethan picked up the phone again and looked at the clock. 9 hours. Then he started to prepare. Ethan got to the building at 5:58.

Charlotte was already there. He knew she would be. She was in the legal suite with Sandra Pruitt and David Park. All three of them working from laptops with coffee cups that suggested they’d been there a while. Sandra looked up when Ethan walked in. She had the focused, slightly compressed expression of someone who had spent the night converting anxiety into preparation.

“How much did you sleep?” Ethan asked Charlotte. “Enough,” she said, which meant not much. “Same.” He set his bag down and pulled out the USB drive. Everything is on here in order. Technical analysis first, then the document comparison, then the audio splice documentation, then the timeline. I want it presented in that sequence because I want the board to understand the mechanism before they see the motive.

Sandra nodded. I agree with that structure. We have 63 minutes, David said. Kane is going to arrive early and try to set the room before we get there. Then we get there first, Charlotte said. She stood up. Sandra, you and David take the main board room. Get our materials on every seat before anyone else comes in.

Ethan. She looked at him. You’re with me. They walked to the board room together at 6:20. The 43rd floor was quieter than Ethan had ever experienced it. The kind of quiet that precedes something significant, not empty, but held. Sandra and David were already inside placing printed document packets at each of the eight board seats.

Charlotte stood at the head of the table and looked at the room the way a general looks at a battlefield she has chosen herself. If he plays the audio first, Ethan said quietly, standing beside her. Before we can present the analysis. Then we let him, she said. He looked at her. Let him play it, she said. Let the board hear it.

Then we show them what it actually is. She turned to face him. Because the most powerful thing we can do in that room is not stop him from lying. It’s let him finish the lie and then prove it in front of everyone who just watched him tell it. Ethan thought about that for a moment. That’s a risk, he said. Everything in that room is a risk, she said.

I’d rather control when the damage happens than be surprised by it. At 6:41, Gerald Foss arrived. He was 12 minutes early and his expression, when he He in and saw Charlotte already seated, and the document packets already distributed. Shifted through several things quickly before settling on careful neutrality. “Charlotte,” he said. “Gerald.

” She gestured to his seat. “Thank you for coming.” He sat down without responding to that. Looked at the packet in front of him, didn’t open it. At 6:48, the other four board members arrived in a group, which told Ethan they’d been coordinating in the lobby, or possibly since last night. Margaret Cho, the board’s finance chair, caught his eye as she sat down and held it for just a moment.

He couldn’t read what was in it. At 6:53, Victor Cain walked in. He was dressed perfectly. He always was. The kind of man whose appearance communicated that everything was under control because he was the one controlling it. He carried a slim leather portfolio and moved to his chair with the ease of someone who had already decided how the next 90 minutes would go.

He looked at Charlotte. She looked at him. Nothing was said, but the room felt it. “Let’s call this to order,” Foss said. He looked at Charlotte. “I think given the circumstances, we should allow Victor to present what he brought to our attention yesterday as the initiating concern.” “Of course,” Charlotte said calmly.

“Victor, please go ahead.” Cain looked at her for a half second. Something flickering in his eyes, quickly controlled. And then he opened his portfolio and stood up. He was good. Ethan had expected that, but it was still something to watch. Cain laid out the narrative cleanly and with apparent regret. The kiss.

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