Chapter 6 - The Last Betrayal
I turned slowly.
Adrian stood behind me.
My mother's gun remained pointed in his direction.
"Mom?"
"Move away from your brother."
My entire body went cold.
Adrian stopped.
"What are you doing?"
She stepped through the doorway.
"Give Evelyn the device."
"What device?"
"The one you used to authorize the transfer."
Adrian looked at me.
Pain crossed his face.
"Mom, you don't understand."
"I understand exactly."
Marcus laughed softly.
"Finally."
I looked from one to the other.
"No."
Adrian reached inside his jacket.
My mother raised the gun higher.
"Slowly."
He pulled out the damaged satellite transmitter.
"That's all."
"Open the back."
He did.
Inside was a small hardware key.
My successor credential.
I stared.
"You said someone stole your authorization."
"They copied it."
"Then why is the physical key inside your device?"
He looked at me.
"Because I was trying to reverse the signature."
"Answer the question."
"I brought it here because it's the only way to invalidate what they created."
Marcus leaned against the navigation console.
Blood ran down his temple from the struggle downstairs.
"Beautiful."
"Shut up," I said.
My mother kept the weapon steady.
"I received messages from Adrian's credentials for months."
Adrian shook his head.
"Not me."
"Some included information only you knew."
"Because Marcus had access to my cloud archive."
Marcus smiled.
I hated that smile.
He wanted distrust.
He had survived by creating it.
"Mom," I said. "Where were you?"
She looked at me.
"Safe house outside Santa Barbara."
"Who took you?"
"No one."
I blinked.
"The photograph—"
"Staged."
"By whom?"
"Me."
Adrian stared at her.
"Why?"
"Because I knew Marcus would react if he believed I had been compromised."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"You used yourself as bait?"
"I learned it from your father."
"That's not reassuring."
For one absurd second, her mouth almost twitched.
Then she looked at Marcus.
"I've been investigating him for six years."
Marcus's expression changed.
Not much.
Enough.
"Six years?" I asked.
"Since your father's death."
Silence.
I felt the floor tilt beneath me more violently than the ocean could explain.
"My father's death was a heart attack."
My mother looked at me.
"That is what Marcus wanted us to believe."
Marcus lunged.
Adrian moved.
The gun fired.
I screamed.
Marcus collapsed against the navigation console.
The bullet hit his shoulder.
Adrian kicked the weapon he had been reaching for away.
Daniel burst through the door seconds later, followed by Grant.
They restrained Marcus.
My mother lowered her gun.
I couldn't move.
"Mom."
She looked at me.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"For six years?"
"I needed proof."
"You let me work beside him."
Her eyes filled.
"Because if I had warned you, Marcus would have known."
I turned away.
Anger and relief collided inside me.
There would be time for both later.
"Midnight," Adrian said.
11:59.
The transfer.
I grabbed my phone.
Emergency control authorization still pending.
Thirty-eight seconds.
"We need to cancel it."
Adrian removed the hardware key.
"My signature can revoke."
"Do it."
He inserted the key into my secure device.
A prompt appeared.
SUCCESSOR REVOCATION.
He pressed confirm.
ERROR.
"Again."
ERROR.
Marcus laughed from the floor.
"You think I didn't plan for that?"
Daniel tightened his grip on him.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing complicated."
I stared at the application.
Recipient:
MARINER CROWN HOLDINGS.
Beneficial ownership verification suddenly appeared.
A name.
I stopped breathing.
Mariner Crown Holdings was not owned by Marcus.
Not Nathan.
Not any stranger.
Owner:
CHARLES HALE.
I looked toward the stairwell.
Charles stood there.
Veronica beside him.
He had heard everything.
His face was blank.
My mother raised the gun again.
Charles lifted his hands.
"Evelyn, I can explain."
"You own the holding company?"
"Not anymore."
"Your name is on the verification."
"It was created twenty years ago."
Marcus laughed.
"Tell her."
Charles looked at him with hatred.
"Mariner Crown was the original joint venture between David and me."
My mother stepped closer.
"Then why is Marcus transferring Cross Meridian control into it?"
"I don't know."
Marcus answered.
"Because legal structures never forget."
Adrian understood first.
"Oh, no."
"What?" I asked.
He looked at me.
"Mariner Crown's founding documents."
Charles closed his eyes.
"The original agreement gave either founder temporary control if the other founder died before dissolution."
"But the company was dissolved."
Charles shook his head.
"We thought it was."
Marcus smiled.
"It wasn't."
My father had died.
Charles was the surviving founder.
If Cross Meridian's controlling shares were transferred into Mariner Crown, Charles could legally control everything.
Whether he wanted to or not.
I stared at him.
"Were you part of this?"
"No."
"Then sign them back."
"I will."
Marcus started laughing.
"It's too late."
The clock changed.
12:00.
My phone flashed.
TRANSFER EXECUTED.
Cross Meridian was no longer under my voting control.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Charles's phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice filled the speaker.
"Congratulations, Mr. Hale. You now control Cross Meridian Group."
Charles shouted, "Who is this?"
The caller ignored him.
"Evelyn, if you're listening, your father left one final safeguard."
I stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
"You'll find it aboard Crown Two."
My missing helicopter.
The aircraft everyone thought I was aboard.
I grabbed Daniel's arm.
"Track Crown Two."
His team checked.
Then his expression changed.
"They found it."
"Where?"
"Not in the air."
"Then where?"
He turned the screen toward me.
May you like
Crown Two had landed on a deserted private airstrip forty miles inland.
And according to the thermal camera feed, someone was standing beside it holding a briefcase that had belonged to my father.
