Chapter 16 - THE BOARDROOM
I did not go alone.
I simply made Elizabeth believe I had.
The boardroom occupied the forty-second floor of a building in Chicago.
Twelve people sat around a table worth more than my first car.
They all knew who I was.
I knew none of them.
Then the doors opened.
Elizabeth walked in.
Seventy-two years old.
Silver hair.
Perfect posture.
My eyes.
Seeing my own features on a stranger was deeply unsettling.
She sat across from me.
“Penelope.”
“Elizabeth.”
She smiled.
“You look like Margaret.”
“So I've been told.”
“I hated that face for thirty years.”
“That's unfortunate.”
Her smile widened.
“You're not afraid.”
“I've had practice.”
She knew what I meant.
“Grant.”
“Yes.”
“He was easy.”
Behind the observation room glass, Grant was listening with investigators.
I kept my face still.
“You used him.”
“I pointed greed toward opportunity.”
“He made his own choices.”
“Exactly.”
For the first time, Elizabeth seemed pleased with me.
“Good. Margaret raised at least one honest descendant.”
“She didn't raise me.”
“No. She merely bought your future.”
I leaned forward.
“What do you want?”
“My shares.”
“Then establish your identity legally.”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“Your grandmother made sure that returning would expose me to prosecution.”
“For what?”
Elizabeth's expression changed.
“The money I moved.”
“So you did steal.”
“I saved the company.”
“From whom?”
“Our father.”
That I hadn't expected.
Elizabeth explained.
Their father had been draining the company.
Bribes.
Illegal loans.
Fraud.
She moved assets to protect employees and creditors.
Margaret discovered the transfers and believed Elizabeth was stealing.
Their confrontation became violent.
Margaret pushed her.
Elizabeth fell down the stairs.
Clara believed she was dead.
The sisters panicked.
But Elizabeth woke before police arrived and fled.
“Why?”
I asked.
“Because I had already committed crimes trying to save the company.”
“You could have returned later.”
“And trusted Margaret?”
Her laugh was bitter.
“She took my disappearance and turned it into inheritance.”
“So you destroyed my marriage?”
“No.”
I felt anger rise.
“You found Grant.”
“Yes.”
“You gave him information.”
“Yes.”
“You helped him target me.”
“I wanted Margaret's trust broken.”
“You knew I would be collateral damage.”
Elizabeth looked directly at me.
“You were living comfortably on stolen money.”
“I didn't know.”
“Neither did the employees who lost pensions when Margaret and Clara took control.”
Silence.
For the first time, the story wasn't clean.
My grandmother had saved me.
That didn't mean she had always been good.
Elizabeth slid a folder toward me.
“Read it.”
Inside were names.
Hundreds.
Former employees.
Families.
Pension claims.
Unpaid settlements.
“This is what Margaret buried.”
I looked at Natalie through the reflection in the glass.
She couldn't hear my thoughts.
Nobody could.
“What do you want?”
Elizabeth said:
“Transfer your voting rights to me.”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I haven't finished.”
“I don't need you to.”
“Then Ryan dies.”
My blood turned cold.
“You said Ryan escaped.”
Elizabeth smiled.
“He escaped one location.”
I stared.
“He came to my house.”
“Yes.”
“Then where is he?”
“Ask Grant.”
My heart stopped.
Behind the glass, movement erupted.
May you like
I turned.
Grant was gone.
