Chapter 7 - What Bernard Feared
Antoine walked into the private salon and shut the door behind him.
Amina followed anyway.
"What do you mean, finished?" Antoine demanded.
Bernard breathed heavily through the phone.
"You don't understand the old structure."
"Then explain it."
"Not with her standing there."
Amina leaned toward the phone.
"I'm staying."
Bernard cursed.
Antoine had never heard his father sound afraid.
"The original atelier had partners," Bernard finally said. "People were bought out. Agreements changed. It was messy."
"Was Mariam Diallo bought out?"
Silence.
Antoine's jaw tightened.
"Was she?"
"There was a settlement."
Amina said, "Show it to me."
"I don't answer to you."
"Your debt covenants say otherwise."
Bernard hung up.
Ten seconds later, Marc rushed in.
"Someone is trying to access the finance server remotely."
Amina moved fast.
"Disconnect external access. Keep the local mirror alive."
Marc typed.
"Done."
A login attempt flashed on screen.
B.BEAUMONT-CHAIR.
Antoine stared.
"He's deleting files."
"Trying to," Amina said.
The audit team had already made copies.
A second alert appeared.
Then a third.
One folder was being targeted repeatedly.
HISTORICAL SETTLEMENTS.
Amina opened it.
Most of the documents were ordinary.
Retired executives.
Old suppliers.
Closed lawsuits.
Then she found a scanned agreement dated May 7, 1999.
MARIAM DIALLO - FINAL EQUITY RELEASE.
Her pulse kicked.
She opened it.
At the bottom was her mother's signature.
But Amina knew that signature.
She had seen it on birthday cards, school forms, letters saved in a box for twenty-five years.
This one was wrong.
The M leaned the wrong direction.
The final o was closed instead of open.
Amina zoomed in.
Antoine whispered, "What?"
May you like
Amina's voice went flat.
"My mother didn't sign this.
