Chapter 20 - The Board Moves Against HerRichard sat at the head of the boardroom table.
Twelve directors occupied the remaining seats.
Several attorneys stood near the glass walls.
When Claire entered with Evelyn and Officer Grant, the room became silent.
Richard looked at the bruise around her eye.
Concern appeared across his face with theatrical precision.
“Claire, you should be receiving medical care.”
“I have.”
“Then you understand why this meeting is necessary.”
He began by describing a severe financial crisis.
Millions had disappeared through vendors.
Regulators might become involved.
The company required calm leadership.
Then he presented the synthetic recording.
Claire’s false voice filled the boardroom, confessing to the scheme.
Directors looked toward her.
Some appeared shocked.
Others looked relieved to have a simple villain.
Richard stopped the file.
“Until an independent investigation is complete, I move that Claire be temporarily suspended.”
A director seconded the motion.
Claire remained standing.
“Who created the recording?”
Richard folded his hands.
“That is your voice.”
“No. I asked who created it.”
Evelyn activated the screen.
The forensic report appeared.
Source fragments.
Artificial transitions.
Adrian Voss’s project files.
Monarch payments.
Daniel’s script revisions.
Melissa’s uploads.
Richard’s login history.
The room shifted.
Directors no longer looked at Claire.
They looked at Richard.
He remained calm.
“These materials require verification.”
“They have been preserved by independent forensic teams,” Evelyn said.
Richard turned toward the board.
“An investigator employed by Claire’s family cannot be considered independent.”
Claire placed the Monarch registration packet on the table.
“Then perhaps your ownership of the company receiving our stolen money should be independently reviewed.”
Richard’s expression changed.
Only for a second.
But everyone saw it.
Claire continued.
“Daniel kept this because he believed you would sacrifice him.”
A director whispered, “Is that true?”
Richard stood.
“This meeting has been compromised.”
Officer Grant moved closer to the exit.
“You are free to leave. Do not remove documents.”
Richard looked at Claire.
“You have no idea what you are destroying.”
She met his eyes.
“No. I finally understand what you were destroying.”
The board suspended the vote.
Then one director raised his hand.
Thomas Reed.
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He had something to confess.
👉 Claire stopped her removal, but the director who supported Richard was about to reveal how deeply the board had helped the fraud survive.
