Chapter 12
1512 Words
By eight the next morning, Elena knew the situation had become much worse.
The forty-seven-million-dollar termination claim had reached the board before she even arrived.
Three members of the legal department were waiting when she stepped out of the elevator.
“Miss Sinclair.”
Elena stopped.
“What happened?”
“We need you in the boardroom.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
The lawyers exchanged uneasy looks.
“The board has called an emergency session.”
Elena's stomach tightened.
“About Madison Heights?”
“Among other things.”
She walked straight to the boardroom.
The moment she entered, she knew something had changed.
Yesterday, she had walked into this room after winning her first major vote.
Today, she felt like a defendant.
Every seat was occupied.
Alexander sat at the head of the table. Rebecca was beside him. Victor, Daniel, Damien, Margaret, and several senior board members were present.
Elena took her seat.
Alexander looked at her.
“Close the door.”
She did.
Then she faced the board.
“The board has received several complaints concerning your management of Madison Heights,” Alexander said.
“I expected questions.”
“Questions aren't the problem.”
Rebecca slid a document toward her.
“The problem is that your decision has already created financial exposure.”
Elena looked at it.
“The supplier termination.”
“Yes.”
“I didn't authorize it.”
“No,” Daniel said. “But you redirected company capital without securing the supplier's cooperation.”
“The contract was already unstable.”
“And you proceeded anyway.”
“Because waiting would have cost us more.”
Victor leaned forward.
“And now we're facing a forty-seven-million-dollar claim.”
Elena's jaw tightened.
“Which I'm working to resolve.”
Victor gave a cold laugh.
“You've been working for less than a week.”
Elena looked directly at him.
“And I've already found twenty-three million dollars moving through accounts that weren't properly reported.”
Silence fell.
Daniel's expression tightened.
Elena noticed.
Rebecca opened another file.
“There is something else.”
Elena looked at her.
“The Madison Heights investment committee has suspended negotiations.”
Her heart sank.
“Why?”
“They cited instability in leadership.”
Victor looked directly at her.
“Your leadership.”
Elena's eyes narrowed.
“Who told them that?”
No one answered.
Rebecca continued.
“They want proof that the project is being managed by someone with sufficient experience.”
“They want me removed.”
“Not necessarily,” Rebecca said.
Victor interrupted.
“They want you removed.”
Elena turned toward him.
“You seem very certain.”
“I'm being realistic.”
“No. You're being opportunistic.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“You're putting the company at risk.”
“And you're enjoying it.”
Alexander raised a hand.
“Enough.”
The room fell silent.
He looked at Elena.
“Do you have a solution?”
“Yes.”
Elena opened her folder.
“I want to renegotiate the supplier contract.”
Daniel shook his head.
“They've already terminated it.”
“Termination can be challenged.”
“Not if they have legal grounds.”
“They don't.”
Elena placed the original contract on the table.
“The supplier claims we breached the payment schedule. But the contract gives us a fifteen-day grace period.”
Rebecca leaned closer.
“Did they receive the full payment?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Elena looked at Daniel.
“That is what I'm trying to determine.”
Daniel remained silent.
Elena's voice hardened.
“Where did the money go?”
He hesitated.
She noticed.
Victor slammed his hand against the table.
“This is absurd.”
“No,” Elena said. “What's absurd is that we're facing a forty-seven-million-dollar claim, and nobody seems interested in finding out where the money went.”
Alexander looked toward Daniel.
“Mr. Cross?”
Daniel swallowed.
“I'll investigate.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I want an independent audit.”
Victor immediately objected.
“That's unnecessary.”
“Why?”
“We already have an internal finance department.”
“And someone in that department failed to process a payment worth tens of millions.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“You're accusing our employees of misconduct.”
“I'm asking for an audit.”
Rebecca spoke quietly.
“An independent audit will cost money.”
“So will losing forty-seven million.”
Alexander nodded.
“Approved.”
Victor pushed his chair back.
“This is getting out of control.”
Elena watched him.
“No. It's finally getting under control.”
Victor stared at her.
“You don't understand what you're doing.”
“I understand exactly what I'm doing.”
“You're creating enemies.”
Elena's eyes hardened.
“I didn't create them. I'm just making them visible.”
Victor walked out.
The room remained tense.
Alexander looked at Elena.
“You're making powerful people uncomfortable.”
“I've noticed.”
“That's dangerous.”
“I know.”
Before the meeting could continue, an assistant rushed into the room.
“Mr. Sinclair.”
Alexander looked up.
“What is it?”
“The audit team has found something.”
Elena stood.
“What?”
The assistant handed Alexander a document.
His expression changed as he read it.
He passed it to Elena.
She scanned the page.
Her blood ran cold.
The missing payment hadn't disappeared.
It had been transferred to an account belonging to a company with no business relationship with Black Empire Holdings.
Marlowe Strategic Partners.
Elena recognized the name.
“That company belongs to—”
She stopped.
The company was connected to someone she never expected.
Her grandfather's former business partner.
Charles Mercer.
Elena looked at Alexander.
“Why would Mercer have one of our payments?”
Alexander's face became unreadable.
“That is what we need to find out.”
Daniel stood abruptly.
“I had nothing to do with that.”
Elena turned toward him.
“Nobody accused you.”
“But you're looking at me.”
“Because you're head of finance.”
Daniel's face reddened.
“I didn't authorize that transfer.”
“Then someone used your department.”
Alexander stood.
“Find out who.”
Before anyone could respond, another board member placed his phone on the table.
“There is another problem.”
He turned the screen toward them.
A news headline appeared.
SINCLAIR HEIRESS PUTS BILLION-DOLLAR DEVELOPMENT AT RISK
Elena stared at it.
The article revealed details about her appointment, probation, first mistake, supplier dispute, and suspended investment.
Some of the information had never been released publicly.
Someone inside Black Empire had leaked it.
Rebecca's voice was quiet.
“This could damage the company.”
“And my position,” Elena said.
A board member leaned forward.
“The board should suspend Elena's authority until the investigation is complete.”
The words struck her.
Another member nodded.
“I agree.”
A third followed.
“So do I.”
One by one, hands began to rise.
Elena looked toward Alexander.
He hadn't raised his hand.
But he hadn't stopped them either.
Rebecca looked at her.
“Do you have anything to say before we vote?”
Elena slowly stood.
Her hands trembled beneath the table, but her voice remained steady.
“Yes.”
Everyone looked at her.
“If you suspend me now, you won't be protecting the Black Empire.”
She looked around the room.
“You'll be rewarding whoever is trying to destroy it.”
Silence.
“Someone stole money from this company.”
She continued.
“Someone forged my signature. Someone threatened me. Someone leaked confidential information to the press.”
Her eyes hardened.
“And now I'm the problem?”
Nobody answered.
“If you want to remove me, do it.”
She paused.
“But don't pretend you're doing it because I'm incompetent.”
Elena placed both hands on the table.
“Ask yourselves who benefits when the heiress loses control.”
The room went silent.
Alexander finally spoke.
“Vote.”
Elena's heart pounded as hands began to rise.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
More followed.
The balance was shifting.
The board wasn't simply questioning her anymore.
They were preparing to take her power away.
Then the boardroom doors opened.
Everyone turned.
Adrian Vale stood in the doorway.
His expression was cold, his eyes fixed on Elena before moving to the raised hands around the table.
He understood immediately.
“What are you doing?”
No one answered.
Adrian stepped into the room.
For the first time since Elena had met him, there was something unmistakably dangerous in his voice.
“Because if you're about to remove her,” he said, “you might want to hear what I found first.”
Elena stared at him.
Adrian held up a folder.
“I know who transferred the forty-seven million dollars.”
The room froze.
End of Chapter 12
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