Chapter 11 - JULIAN CAME BACK SMILING
The shareholder meeting began at eight.
It was held virtually because no one trusted the security situation enough to gather hundreds of investors in one room.
Julian joined from an undisclosed location.
He was smiling again.
That told me Nathan had given him something.
Or Julian believed he had.
Redstone's counsel opened with a motion to remove Thomas Armitage.
The stated reason was failure of oversight during the liquidity crisis.
The unstated reason was obvious.
Thomas had suspended Julian.
Nathan needed him gone.
I watched the vote count build on the screen.
CBL voted against removal.
Several institutional investors followed us.
Redstone voted yes.
Westbridge affiliates voted yes.
Julian's personal shares voted yes.
Then a block of shares held by a pension fund switched at the last moment.
Thomas lost by less than two percent.
He removed his glasses.
"Well."
I felt sick.
Julian's smile widened.
The next motion nominated an interim chairman.
Not Julian.
Nathan Cross.
For one stunned second, no one on our side spoke.
Then Julian's face changed.
He had not known.
I saw it clearly.
"What is this?"
Redstone's counsel ignored him.
The nomination proceeded.
Nathan appeared on screen.
He sat in a room with no visible windows.
His hair was grayer than I remembered.
Otherwise, he looked exactly like the man from my wedding photographs.
Calm.
Patient.
Pleasant enough to be underestimated.
"Good evening."
My father leaned toward his microphone.
"You have some nerve."
Nathan smiled.
"Victor, you are not a shareholder of record."
"CBL is."
"CBL is Elena."
Nathan looked directly into the camera.
"And I would like to hear from her."
I activated my microphone.
"You want my vote?"
"I want your attention."
"You had it the moment I saw my mother's forged signature."
"That was Julian's mistake."
Julian hit his microphone.
"Do not put that on me."
Nathan did not even look irritated.
"You signed the transfers."
"You created them."
"You approved them."
"You told me they were protected."
There it was.
Two conspirators arguing in front of the people they had deceived.
Samuel muted our line and looked at me.
"Let them talk."
I nodded.
Julian continued.
"You said CBL was dormant."
Nathan laughed softly.
"It was."
"You said Elena would never gain control."
"I said Elena did not know she had control."
Julian's face tightened.
"You used me."
Nathan finally looked directly at him.
"Of course I used you."
Silence.
Nathan leaned back.
"You were ambitious, insecure, greedy, and convinced every room underestimated you."
Julian's jaw clenched.
"You required almost no effort."
I watched something dangerous move through Julian's expression.
For the first time, he knew how I had felt for years.
He had believed he was the person holding the strings.
Now he was discovering he had been tied to them too.
The vote on Nathan's nomination began.
CBL voted no.
Julian unexpectedly voted no.
That surprised everyone.
Redstone voted yes.
Westbridge voted yes.
The pension fund hesitated.
Then voted yes.
Nathan won by less than one percent.
Effective immediately, the man who had helped build the scheme against my family became chairman of Vale Meridian.
He thanked the shareholders.
Then he did exactly what we feared.
He called for a review of the emergency bridge financing from CBL.
Without the bridge, Orion would trigger before midnight.
Without Thomas, the board could delay approval long enough to make that happen.
Nathan had put himself in the chair just in time to let the company default into his own lender's hands.
"You cannot vote on a transaction where you have a conflict," I said.
Nathan smiled.
"Then prove the conflict."
"Westbridge is yours."
"Is it?"
"Marcus Hale says it is."
"Marcus Hale also admits he participated in a criminal cover-up."
Marcus sat beside me and went pale.
Nathan continued.
"The credibility of your witnesses is becoming a problem, Elena."
I looked at Samuel.
He wrote one word on a legal pad.
DISCOVERY.
We needed proof of ownership, not allegations.
Nathan knew the offshore structure would take time to unwind.
Time was exactly what we did not have.
The meeting ended at nine fifteen.
At nine twenty, Julian called me.
I almost ignored it.
Then I answered.
"What?"
His voice was different.
No performance.
No charm.
No anger.
"Nathan is going to kill the company."
"You helped him."
"I thought he was helping me take control."
"That is not a defense."
"I am not asking for a defense."
"Then what do you want?"
"A deal."
I laughed.
"You are not in a position to negotiate with me."
"I have something you need."
"Everyone has something I need today."
"Proof that Nathan controls Westbridge."
I stopped breathing for a second.
"Where?"
"A ledger."
"Digital?"
"Paper."
Samuel, listening beside me, mouthed a question.
WHERE?
I asked.
Julian hesitated.
"Selene has it."
I stared at the phone.
"Selene?"
"She took it from my safe the night before..."
He stopped.
"The night before you hurt me?"
Silence.
"Yes."
"Why would she take it?"
"Because she realized Nathan planned to leave us both with nothing."
"Where is she?"
"I do not know."
"You told me you found her."
"I never found her."
"Then she lied to me."
"That is what Selene does."
The hypocrisy was breathtaking.
"What do you want in exchange?"
"Your father stops the criminal referrals."
I almost ended the call.
"No."
"Elena-"
"You assaulted me."
"I know."
"You drugged me."
"Selene put the medication in your tea."
"Did you know?"
Silence.
"Did you know, Julian?"
His answer came quietly.
"Yes."
My hand tightened around the phone.
Samuel closed his eyes.
"Then there is no deal."
"Nathan will take everything."
"Then help stop him because it is the first decent thing you have done in years."
"And then what happens to me?"
"Consequences."
He breathed out slowly.
"You always were naive."
"No."
I looked at the bruises on my wrist.
"I was loyal."
I ended the call.
At ten fourteen, Selene sent me a photograph.
It showed a leather ledger open on a hotel bed.
One page listed Westbridge entities.
Beside several company names were handwritten initials.
NC.
Nathan Cross.
Her message followed.
I WILL GIVE YOU THE LEDGER.
NO MONEY.
NO POLICE.
COME ALONE.
Samuel shook his head before I finished reading.
"Absolutely not."
Then a second message arrived.
IF YOU DO NOT COME, ORION TRIGGERS AT MIDNIGHT.
May you like
A third followed.
AND YOUR FATHER GOES DOWN WITH JULIAN.
