Chapter 8 - The Forty-Fourth Floor
At 11:25 AM Chicago time, the executive boardroom of Ellison-Holloway Capital was filled with an atmosphere of sheer, unadulterated panic.
Nine board members sat around the long conference table, their faces pale as they scanned thick stacks of financial audits delivered forty-five minutes earlier by Julian Sterling’s messengers.
Arthur Pendelton stood at the head of the table, wiping sweat from his forehead with a crumpled silk handkerchief.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please," Arthur pleaded, raising his hands. "These documents are unverified! They are a malicious smear campaign orchestrated by Sterling Global to sabotage our firm during an internal leadership crisis!"
"Unverified?" Richard Vance, the oldest member of the board, stood up, slamming a heavy finger onto the spreadsheet before him. "These are certified bank statements from Credit Suisse! Grant Holloway transferred two point four million dollars from our employee pension reserve into an offshore account in Grand Cayman three months ago!"
"It was a hedge!" Arthur stammered. "A strategic currency hedge!"
"He forged Mara’s signature on the authorization!" Vance shouted back. "The digital key matches a keylogger signature flagged by federal cyber auditors!"
Before Arthur could respond, the giant sixty-five-inch video screen mounted on the boardroom wall chimed loudly.
A connection window popped up.
The screen flickered, then resolved into a crystal-clear high-definition feed.
Sitting in a hospital bed, dressed in a simple dark blue robe, was Mara Ellison. Her hair was pulled back neatly, her face pale but her eyes burning with an intense, calm focus. Behind her, visible through the glass wall of her room, was an IV pole and the faint outline of the NICU monitor screens.
Beside her bed sat Julian Sterling, his hands resting quietly over his leather briefcase.
The boardroom fell instantly silent.
"Good morning, members of the board," Mara said. Her voice echoed clearly through the boardroom speakers, quiet, steady, and utterly commanding.
"Mara..." Vance stammered, stepping toward the screen. "My God. Are you alright? The report Grant sent us said..."
"Grant lied," Mara said simply. "As he has lied to all of you for the last five years."
Arthur rushed toward the AV control panel on the wall. "This meeting is private! I am cutting the feed—"
"If you touch that panel, Arthur," Julian Sterling’s voice cut through the speakers like a razor blade, "my attorneys standing outside your door will file an immediate criminal complaint for obstruction of justice with the State’s Attorney’s office."
Arthur’s hand hovered an inch from the power button. He froze, looking at the board members, who were all glaring at him with open disgust.
He slowly lowered his hand and backed away.
"Fourteen hours ago," Mara continued, looking directly into the camera, "my husband looked at my medical monitor showing a blood pressure reading of 186 over 114. He knew I was in severe medical danger. He locked the deadbolt of our apartment from the outside, disabled the lobby intercom, and left me to die."
Gasps echoed around the conference table.
"He did this," Mara said, holding up a sleek black USB drive, "because he had spent the last eight months draining twelve point six million dollars from our escrow accounts into private holdings in Zurich. He needed me dead so that the investigation into the missing funds would end with my estate."
She looked directly at Arthur Pendelton.
"Arthur, read Section 9A of our corporate charter out loud to the room."
Arthur swallowed hard, his voice shaking violently. "I... I don't have the charter in front of me..."
"Then I will read it for you," Mara said smoothly. "'In the event that a managing partner commits an act of gross moral turpitude or illegal conversion of company assets, the remaining founding partner holds immediate, absolute authority to strip all executive voting rights and seize all corporate shares associated with the offending partner.'"
She looked at Richard Vance.
"Richard, I move for an immediate board vote to terminate Grant Holloway as Chief Executive Officer, strip him of his shares, and authorize Julian Sterling’s legal team to file international asset-recovery warrants with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority."
Vance didn't hesitate for a single second. "I second the motion."
"All in favor?" Vance called out, raising his hand.
Every single hand at the table went up into the air.
Except Arthur Pendelton’s. He slowly sank into a chair, his head buried in his hands.
May you like
"The motion carries unanimously," Vance declared, looking back at the screen. "Mara... what do you need us to do?"
"Keep the news quiet for thirty more minutes," Mara replied, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Grant is currently sitting in a private car outside the Zurich financial district waiting for Arthur to call him. Let's make sure he gets the news personally."
