Chapter 8 - THE TWENTY-TWO PERCENT SECRET
Naomi Cross woke at 3:17 in the morning.
Valerie was beside her hospital bed.
Sebastian stood near the window.
Detective Price waited outside.
Naomi opened her eyes and immediately tried to sit up.
Valerie stopped her.
“Easy.”
“Phone.”
“You’re safe.”
“Phone.”
Valerie handed it to her.
Naomi stared at the screen.
Then at Sebastian.
“You.”
Sebastian stepped closer.
“I’m listening.”
“Redline.”
“What about it?”
“I found the client.”
Valerie leaned forward.
“Who?”
Naomi swallowed.
“Not Adrian.”
Sebastian and Valerie looked at each other.
“Who?”
Valerie asked again.
“Malcolm Ward.”
Sebastian frowned.
“My uncle is dead.”
“I know.”
Naomi breathed slowly.
“The account was created twenty years ago.”
“It never closed.”
“Someone has been using the same corporate identity ever since.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
“Who controls it?”
“I couldn’t prove it.”
“Then why did someone come after you?”
“Because I found something else.”
Naomi reached for Valerie’s hand.
“The Bell partnership.”
Valerie stopped breathing.
“What about it?”
“It wasn’t terminated legally.”
Sebastian moved closer.
Naomi looked at him.
“Your father never approved the termination.”
Sebastian stared.
“Then whose signature is on it?”
“Charles Ward.”
“That’s what corporate records show.”
“But the signature was forged.”
Silence.
Valerie whispered.
“How do you know?”
Naomi gave a tired smile.
“Because Charles Ward was in Zurich the day the document was supposedly signed in New York.”
Sebastian’s face changed.
“I can confirm that.”
Naomi continued.
“And there’s something else.”
“The partnership agreement had a fraud clause.”
Valerie frowned.
“What clause?”
“If either party lost ownership through intentional falsification, the equity reverted to the injured party or their legal heir.”
Sebastian looked at Valerie.
“How much?”
Naomi already knew.
“Twenty-two percent.”
Valerie shook her head.
“No.”
Sebastian remained still.
Naomi looked at her.
“Valerie.”
“No.”
“That could make you one of Ward Holdings’ largest individual shareholders.”
“I don’t want it.”
Sebastian stared at her.
“That isn’t the point.”
“It is to me.”
“Your father was robbed.”
“I want his name cleared.”
“You can want both.”
“I don’t want your company.”
Sebastian almost smiled.
“My company may legally be partly yours.”
“That is not funny.”
“I’m not joking.”
Valerie walked toward the window.
“This is why they’re doing it.”
“Yes.”
“Not because I slept with you.”
“No.”
“They’re afraid of the agreement.”
“Yes.”
Valerie turned.
“Then why leak what happened between us?”
Sebastian’s expression hardened.
“To discredit you before you discover your claim.”
Naomi nodded weakly.
“If the public thinks you manipulated Sebastian, accepted money, sabotaged vehicles…”
“They can frame any legal action as extortion.”
Valerie closed her eyes.
Sebastian understood now.
Every humiliation.
Every leak.
Every planted piece of evidence.
It had never been random.
Someone had been constructing a story.
A story in which Valerie Bell was unstable.
Greedy.
Vindictive.
Obsessed with the Ward family.
Exactly like they had described her father.
History was repeating itself.
Sebastian spoke quietly.
“They did the same thing to Thomas.”
Valerie looked at him.
“Yes.”
His phone rang.
Evelyn.
He answered.
“Where are you?”
Her voice was sharp.
“At the hospital.”
“With Valerie?”
“Yes.”
“Come home.”
“No.”
“Sebastian.”
“What happened?”
A pause.
Then Evelyn spoke.
“Adrian called the emergency board meeting for eight.”
“I know.”
“He has seven votes.”
“How many does he need?”
“Nine.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
“And you?”
“I haven’t decided.”
Valerie heard.
Sebastian looked at her.
“What are they voting on?”
“To temporarily suspend you as CEO.”
Naomi whispered.
“Because of me.”
Sebastian ignored that.
“What grounds?”
“Failure of fiduciary judgment.”
“Security instability.”
“Reputational damage.”
“Your public handling of the gala.”
Sebastian almost laughed.
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Your relationship with Valerie.”
Sebastian’s face became emotionless.
“Interesting.”
“Come to the meeting.”
“I will.”
“Alone.”
“No.”
Evelyn exhaled.
“Do not bring her.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian wants everyone to believe she controls you.”
Sebastian looked at Valerie.
“She doesn’t.”
“I know that.”
“Then prove it.”
“How?”
“Vote with me.”
Silence.
Evelyn finally whispered.
“I spent seventeen years protecting you.”
Sebastian’s voice softened.
“No, Mother.”
“You spent seventeen years protecting what you thought I needed.”
“There’s a difference.”
Then he ended the call.
Valerie stared at him.
“You should go alone.”
“No.”
“Sebastian.”
“You don’t need to come.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
He waited.
“You should go alone.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t need to walk into your boardroom to prove I’m brave.”
“And you don’t need to drag me in there to prove you choose me.”
Sebastian’s expression shifted.
Valerie continued.
“This is your fight.”
“My father’s truth is mine.”
“But your family is yours.”
“Go handle it.”
He studied her.
“You’ll stay here?”
“For now.”
“With police outside?”
“Yes.”
“Call me if—”
She raised an eyebrow.
Sebastian stopped.
Then corrected himself.
“If you want anything, call me.”
Valerie smiled faintly.
“Better.”
At 8:04, Sebastian Ward entered the boardroom alone.
Adrian sat at the far end.
Evelyn occupied the chair beside him.
Twelve directors watched.
Sebastian did not sit.
Adrian folded his hands.
“You look tired.”
“So do criminals.”
A director cleared his throat.
“Gentlemen.”
Adrian smiled.
“This is exactly the behavior we’re concerned about.”
Sebastian dropped a file onto the table.
“Before we vote, read page three.”
No one moved.
Evelyn opened it first.
Her face changed.
Adrian did not.
“What is this?”
“A copy of the original Bell-Ward partnership agreement.”
“That document has been invalid for seventeen years.”
Sebastian looked at him.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe not.”
Adrian leaned back.
“You’re going to destroy the company over a woman you slept with once?”
The room became silent.
Sebastian stared at him.
Then he smiled.
It was not a pleasant smile.
“Thank you.”
Adrian frowned.
“For what?”
“For saying exactly what I hoped you would say.”
Sebastian looked around the table.
“My brother wants you to believe this is about Valerie Bell.”
“It isn’t.”
“It is about a forged signature.”
“A stolen equity interest.”
“Illegal surveillance.”
“Corporate funds used to plant money in a private citizen’s account.”
“And an attempt to sabotage a company vehicle.”
Adrian laughed.
“You have no evidence connecting me to any of that.”
“Not yet.”
“Then stop pretending.”
Sebastian leaned forward.
“But I have enough evidence to ask a simpler question.”
He looked at every director.
“Why is Adrian Ward trying so hard to remove me before anyone can audit Ward Urban’s historical records?”
The room changed.
Adrian’s smile disappeared.
Sebastian turned toward the corporate secretary.
“I am formally requesting an independent forensic audit.”
Adrian immediately spoke.
“I object.”
Sebastian looked at him.
“Of course you do.”
“We’re here to discuss your suspension.”
“Then vote.”
Adrian stared.
Sebastian sat.
The vote began.
One by one.
Seven directors voted to suspend Sebastian.
Four voted against.
Then Evelyn remained.
Everyone looked at her.
She stared at her son.
Sebastian did not plead.
Did not speak.
Finally Evelyn whispered.
“Against.”
The vote failed.
Adrian’s face went blank.
Sebastian looked at his mother.
She did not look back.
The meeting adjourned in chaos.
As Sebastian walked toward the elevator, Evelyn followed.
“Wait.”
He turned.
She held out an old brass key.
“What is this?”
“Your father had a private deposit box.”
“Where?”
“First Federal.”
“Why are you giving me this now?”
Evelyn looked exhausted.
“Because Thomas Bell was not the only man Charles stopped trusting.”
Sebastian stared at the key.
“Who else?”
His mother looked toward the closed boardroom doors.
“Everyone.”
May you like
Then she whispered.
“Especially Malcolm.”
