Chapter 10 - The Second Target
The lab results arrived that afternoon.
The capsules in Ethan's bottle contained a heavy sedative combined with a blood-pressure medication he had never been prescribed.
"Could it kill me?" Ethan asked.
The toxicologist chose his words carefully.
"At the listed dose, combined with alcohol, it could cause loss of consciousness, dangerous hypotension, and in some people cardiac complications."
Ethan sat very still.
Sophia had been making him tea every night for the past week.
Richard watched his son understand that the woman sleeping beside him had been preparing for more than one outcome.
"Why me?" Ethan asked.
Dana answered. "Because after you became trustee, you would be the only person who could admit the bridge loan was unauthorized."
Richard's phone rang.
Board counsel.
The Monday meeting had been moved up.
Sunday morning.
Less than eighteen hours away.
Someone had circulated affidavits claiming Richard had assaulted Sophia, threatened household staff, and shown rapid cognitive decline.
Attached was a photograph of Richard standing over Sophia in the hallway.
The frame was pulled from the exact second after Ethan slapped him.
It looked terrible.
"They are still going forward," Richard said.
Dana nodded. "Because the camera footage is not public yet."
Ethan stood.
"Then make it public."
Richard shook his head.
"No."
"Dad, it proves she lied."
"It proves one lie. If we show our hand now, Julian disappears, Crane destroys records, and whoever inside Whitmore Capital helped them gets time to run."
Ethan stared at him.
"You want to walk into that meeting and let them call you insane?"
Richard buttoned his jacket.
"I spent forty years in boardrooms full of men who wanted me dead financially. I can survive Sunday morning."
Dana received another call.
Her expression sharpened.
"We found the administrator who approved the trust portal reset."
"Who?" Richard asked.
She turned the screen toward them.
The employee photo belonged to Thomas Reed.
May you like
Richard's oldest friend.
And Whitmore Capital's general counsel.
