Chapter 14 - The Boardroom
By the time we reached Mercer Holdings, the lobby was locked down.
Oliver was safe in a conference room with my sister and two officers.
Grant had never entered the building.
He wanted us to think he had.
His car contained one envelope addressed to the board.
Inside was a signed declaration claiming I had concealed mental illness, endangered Oliver, and fabricated accusations against Vanessa during a marital breakdown.
Attached were Dr. Sloan's old notes.
"He's building a public defense," Mara said.
The board meeting was in ninety minutes.
Vanessa still held a temporary proxy for my shares from a document I had signed months earlier.
I remembered it as an insurance authorization.
If the board accepted the incapacity claim, Vanessa could vote my shares long enough to approve a sale of two subsidiaries.
The buyer was a shell company linked to Grant's foundation.
This had never been only about custody.
They were stripping everything at once.
I walked into the boardroom with Mara, my attorney, and the original trust documents.
Silver suit. Calm face. Wedding ring still on her hand.
"Daniel," she said softly, as if we were arriving for dinner. "You need help."
I placed the hospital report on the table.
"Did you help steal my son?"
Vanessa looked at the board members.
"This is what I'm talking about. He is paranoid."
Then Mara played Rachel's recovered audio.
My attorney moved to invalidate the proxy based on fraud.
"You think one recording changes what you signed?"
"No," I said. "But this might."
The technician played the kitchen video.
Once he signs the papers, the boy won't matter anymore.
One board member pushed his chair back from her.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
Grant's voice was loud enough for all of us to hear.
"You told them about the hospital, didn't you?"
Vanessa whispered, "No."
May you like
"Then why is the police car outside my house?"
"Daniel," she said, "Grant has the original birth ledger."
