Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO OWNED THE BOARD
Marcus moved immediately.
“Back exit.”
Adrian grabbed the Monarch documents.
Elena followed them through a narrow hallway.
They reached a staircase leading toward the alley.
A vehicle was already waiting.
Marcus stopped.
“That’s not ours.”
Footsteps sounded above them.
Adrian looked toward Elena.
“Basement.”
They moved downward instead.
The basement connected to another building through an old service corridor.
By the time the men entered Adrian’s office, Elena, Adrian, and Marcus were already two blocks away.
Marcus arranged transportation back to New York.
During the flight, Elena received another shock.
Natalie called.
“We identified the insider.”
Elena sat upright.
“Who?”
Natalie hesitated.
“Victor Lang.”
Elena said nothing.
Victor Lang had served on the Voss Global board for twenty-three years.
He had been one of her father’s closest advisers.
He had attended Alexander Voss’s funeral.
He had stood beside Elena when she became chairwoman.
He had told her she was like a daughter to him.
Elena looked across the cabin at Adrian.
“Victor Lang.”
Adrian’s expression immediately changed.
“You know him.”
“My mother knew him.”
Elena frowned.
“Your mother?”
Adrian nodded.
“She was terrified of him.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“Why?”
“She believed Victor was the reason my father kept us hidden.”
Elena called Natalie again.
“Where is Victor?”
“He resigned forty minutes ago.”
“Find him.”
“We’re trying.”
“And freeze everything connected to him.”
Natalie paused.
“We can’t.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“He moved his holdings before Damian’s accounts were frozen.”
That explained the warning.
Victor had known.
Elena looked toward the clouds outside.
“Where did he move them?”
“Into a private investment vehicle.”
“Name?”
Natalie answered.
“Monarch Capital.”
Elena slowly closed her eyes.
Victor had not simply discovered her father’s secret plan.
He had built an organization around it.
When Elena returned to Voss headquarters, the boardroom was already full.
Directors whispered among themselves.
Elena entered with Adrian.
Conversation stopped.
One director stood.
“Who is he?”
Elena walked toward the head of the table.
“Adrian Voss.”
Several faces changed immediately.
That told Elena something important.
Some of them already knew the name.
She noticed every reaction.
“Apparently,” Elena continued, “my father had another child.”
A director named Samuel Price looked toward the door.
Marcus quietly blocked it.
Elena saw him.
“Sit down, Samuel.”
He did.
Elena placed the Monarch documents on the table.
“For eleven years, certain people in this company believed I didn’t know this existed.”
Nobody spoke.
“They were correct.”
She looked around the room.
“Until yesterday.”
Samuel wiped his forehead.
Elena noticed.
“Would you like to tell me something?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Elena nodded toward Marcus.
Marcus placed a tablet on the table.
A transaction appeared.
Twenty-two million dollars.
Transferred from a Voss subsidiary.
Approved by Samuel Price.
Received by Monarch Capital.
Samuel went pale.
Elena leaned forward.
“Try again.”
Samuel looked around desperately.
“He made us do it.”
“Who?”
“Victor.”
“How many?”
Samuel swallowed.
“How many what?”
“Board members.”
Silence.
Elena’s voice became colder.
“How many people on this board work for Victor Lang?”
Samuel whispered the answer.
“Seven.”
Nearly half the room suddenly looked very uncomfortable.
Then every phone in the boardroom vibrated simultaneously.
Elena looked down.
A news alert filled her screen.
BREAKING: VOSS GLOBAL FOUNDER ACCUSED OF FRAUDULENT OWNERSHIP CLAIMS.
Below the headline was Elena’s photograph.
And beneath it, another line.
SECRET HEIR ADRIAN VOSS PREPARES LEGAL CHALLENGE.
Elena looked at Adrian.
Adrian looked equally stunned.
Then a television screen on the wall automatically switched to a live press conference.
Victor Lang stepped behind a podium.
May you like
And smiled directly into the cameras.
“Today,” he began, “the truth about Elena Voss will finally be revealed.”
