Chapter 4 - The Safe in the Wall
Daniel stared at the small screen of his phone, watching Vanessa operate with practiced, calm efficiency. She didn't look like a frantic woman whose housekeeper had just been rushed to the hospital. She looked like a professional operative carrying out an extraction.
"What is she doing?" Arthur asked, leaning over Daniel's shoulder to look at the screen.
"Getting her insurance policy," Daniel said quietly.
Inside that wall safe lay the master physical stock certificates for Whitmore Holdings—documents that carried the voting rights for the forty-two percent stake left to Daniel by his father. While the company had digitized most of its assets, the original charter required the physical presentation of those certificates during any major corporate restructuring or merger.
"She doesn't have the combination," Arthur whispered. "Only you and I have those codes."
On the screen, Vanessa pulled a small electronic device from her clutch—a handheld frequency scanner—and attached it to the digital lock housing. Within fifteen seconds, the LED light on the safe flickered from red to green. The heavy steel door swung open.
Vanessa reached inside, pulled out the thick leather binder containing the master certificates, and slid it directly into a black leather shoulder bag. She closed the safe, wiped the keypad down with a silk handkerchief, and walked out of the camera's frame.
"She’s moving," Daniel said, his heart pounding in his chest. "Arthur, call our head of cybersecurity. I want every credential Vanessa Hart holds within Whitmore Holdings revoked immediately. Lock her out of the mainframes, disable her keycards, and freeze the merger escrow accounts."
"Daniel, if I freeze the escrow accounts, the Sterling Group will pull out of the deal!" Arthur warned, his voice rising in panic. "We stand to lose three hundred million dollars!"
"I don't care about the three hundred million!" Daniel roared. "If she gets those certificates to Andrew, they can use the offshore shell companies they set up six years ago to execute a hostile takeover before the sun comes up! Do it now!"
Arthur nodded frantically, pulling out his phone to make the calls.
Daniel turned toward the window, looking out over the sprawling lights of Los Angeles. Somewhere out there, in a city of four million people, his brother was waiting. A brother he had mourned for six years. A brother who had allowed their mother to die in grief while he lived off stolen money.
Daniel pulled his coat tight, turned away from the glass, and headed for the private elevator.
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"Where are you going?" Arthur called out, holding his phone to his ear.
"To East Los Angeles," Daniel said. "To secure my nephew."
