Chapter 17 - FOUR HOURS UNTIL THE VOTE
By 4:51 a.m., Graham and Cross were in custody.
Vanessa was missing.
The flash drive was missing with her.
The board vote was four hours away.
Deputies searched the estate, but the storm had flooded the south road and turned the woods into black mud.
Nathan sat in an ambulance while a paramedic closed the cut along his ribs.
Dr. Price gave a statement to detectives and handed over copies of the medical files.
It was enough for criminal charges.
It was not enough to stop the merger.
Nathan needed proof his proxy had been obtained through fraud.
I sat beside Sophia under a silver emergency blanket.
She was finally shaking.
All the bravery had burned through her at once.
I held her and signed slowly.
YOU SAFE. MOM HERE.
She touched my face.
NATHAN SAFE?
I looked across the ambulance bay.
Nathan was watching us.
YES.
She smiled, then fell asleep against me.
Nathan came over a few minutes later.
"You should take her home."
"I don't have a home right now. My apartment keys and car are still inside your crime scene."
He almost smiled.
Then his phone rang.
Board chair.
Nathan put it on speaker.
"Nathan, we received a message from Vanessa," the chair said. "She claims you are experiencing a psychiatric break and that Maya Reyes abducted her, assaulted security staff, and manipulated your medical treatment."
I laughed in disbelief. "That woman does not quit."
"There's more," the chair said.
A video arrived.
Vanessa sat inside what looked like a hotel room.
Behind her was the flash drive.
She held it over a glass of water.
"Nathan," she said calmly, "withdraw your objection to the merger and publicly confirm our wedding is still happening."
She smiled.
"Or at nine o'clock, this evidence disappears forever."
The video ended.
Sophia opened her eyes.
She had been watching the screen.
She pointed at the background.
May you like
Then signed:
NOT HOTEL. HOUSE.
