Chapter 9: The Boardroom Execution
360 Words
The board of directors sat around the mahogany table like a jury of stone statues. At the head of the table sat Arthur Sterling, the CFO who had been with Blackwood Industries for twenty years. He looked smug, a thick folder laid out in front of him.
"The evidence is clear," Sterling said, his voice dripping with fake regret. "Elara Vance used her position as an auditor to funnel the missing five million into an offshore account in the Caymans. She’s been working against us from the start."
Killian sat at the other end of the table, his face a mask of cold indifference. He didn't say a word. He just looked at Elara, who was standing by the door, her heart racing.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Miss Vance?" one of the directors asked, looking at her with pure disgust.
Elara stepped forward, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor. She didn't look at the directors. She looked straight at Sterling. "I do. I’d like to ask Mr. Sterling why his personal signature is on the manual override for the payroll server on the night of the fourteenth."
Sterling laughed, a dry, nervous sound. "That’s a desperate lie."
"Is it?" Elara pulled out the ledger she and Killian had found in the archives. She slammed it onto the table. "This is the physical backup. The one you thought was shredded. Page 112 shows the transfer sequence. It wasn't my account, Arthur. It was a shell company registered to your wife's maiden name."
The room went deathly silent. Killian finally stood up, his presence filling the room. "Security is already outside the door, Arthur. And the police are downstairs. You have ten seconds to tell me who else helped you, or I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life in a cell with no windows."
As security dragged the screaming CFO out of the room, the directors looked at Elara with newfound fear. She had won. But as she met Killian’s eyes, she saw no celebration—only the cold, dark shadow of a new threat.
- Writer
