PART 2: THE WOMAN BESIDE ME
\nGrant\u2019s hand clamped around my wrist hard enough to leave white marks beneath his fingers.
\n\u201cLet her go,\u201d Daniel ordered.
\nGrant tightened his grip. \u201cThis is between my wife and me.\u201d
\n\u201cNo,\u201d I said, staring directly into his eyes. \u201cThis is between a suspended CEO and the woman whose company he tried to steal.\u201d
\nTwo airport security officers hurried toward us. Grant released me before they reached him, but the damage was already done. Every camera in the terminal had captured him grabbing me.
\nAs the officers stepped between us, Grant leaned close enough that only I could hear him.
\n\u201cYou think I\u2019m the one you should fear?\u201d he whispered. \u201cAsk Evelyn why she needed you on that plane.\u201d
\nFor the first time since he entered the terminal, I saw something other than rage on his face.
\nI saw satisfaction.
\nGrant wanted me to doubt her.
\nI refused to give him the pleasure.
\n\u201cGo back to the hospital,\u201d I said. \u201cYour son has been alive for less than two hours, and you have already abandoned him twice.\u201d
\nHis face twisted. \u201cOlivia\u2014\u201d
\nThe gate closed between us.
\nI walked onto the jet without looking back, but Grant\u2019s warning followed me all the way down the narrow aisle.
\nEvelyn sat across from me while Daniel took a seat near the front. The blue folder containing my appointment as interim executive chair rested on the table between us.
\n\u201cAre you hurt?\u201d she asked.
\n\u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t look fine.\u201d
\n\u201cMy husband had a child with my CFO, stole millions from my company, forged my signature, and tried to destroy my father\u2019s trust. Fine is the best I can offer right now.\u201d
\nEvelyn gave me a small, understanding smile. \u201cYour father would be proud of how you handled him.\u201d
\nNormally, those words would have comforted me.
\nInstead, I heard Grant\u2019s whisper again.
\nAsk Evelyn why she needed you on that plane.
\nThe jet lifted through the storm. When the lights of the city disappeared beneath the clouds, Daniel opened his laptop and joined a secure call with Lena Ortiz.
\nLena looked exhausted. Her dark hair was pulled into a loose knot, and three monitors glowed behind her.
\n\u201cWe have another problem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow serious?\u201d I asked.
\n\u201cEleven-point-four million dollars serious.\u201d
\nMy stomach tightened.
\nLena shared her screen. A transfer request had been submitted twelve minutes after the board suspended Grant. The money was scheduled to leave Northstar\u2019s acquisition account and enter an escrow account in Seattle.
\n\u201cI froze it before it cleared,\u201d Lena explained. \u201cBut Grant\u2019s suspension should have made this request impossible.\u201d
\n\u201cWho authorized it?\u201d Daniel asked.
\n\u201cThe first authorization came from Grant\u2019s executive token. The second came from a trust-level account.\u201d
\nI leaned closer to the screen. \u201cMine?\u201d
\n\u201cNo. It belonged to the trust protector.\u201d
\nSilence filled the cabin.
\nMy father had created the trust protector position to stop anyone\u2014including me\u2014from making a reckless decision with Northstar\u2019s controlling shares. Only one person had ever held that authority.
\nI slowly turned toward Evelyn.
\nShe did not look surprised.
\n\u201cMy token was copied,\u201d she said calmly.
\nLena\u2019s eyes narrowed. \u201cThat type of token cannot be copied remotely.\u201d
\n\u201cThen Grant must have accessed it during a board meeting.\u201d
\n\u201cWhen did you last physically possess it?\u201d
\nEvelyn glanced toward the dark window. \u201cI would need to check.\u201d
\nGrant lied as naturally as breathing. He planted doubt, isolated people, and turned suspicion into a weapon. I reminded myself of that as Evelyn folded her hands.
\nStill, she had not answered the question.
\nLena opened another document. \u201cThere\u2019s more. The escrow account belongs to Orison Advisory.\u201d
\nI recognized the name from the fake consulting payments.
\n\u201cMelissa\u2019s brother\u2019s company?\u201d I asked.
\n\u201cThat is what Grant wanted us to believe,\u201d Lena replied. \u201cThe registration was amended nine months ago. Melissa\u2019s brother is only the listed manager. The true beneficiary is hidden behind a private holding company.\u201d
\n\u201cCan you identify the owner?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m working on it. But the holding company was created two days after your father\u2019s funeral.\u201d
\nThe cabin seemed to grow colder.
\nEvelyn abruptly stood. \u201cWe\u2019re wasting time. If we delay the Seattle acquisition, Northstar could face a penalty large enough to trigger layoffs.\u201d
\n\u201cMy father\u2019s company can survive a delayed acquisition,\u201d I said. \u201cIt may not survive another stolen eleven million dollars.\u201d
\nHer eyes hardened for half a second before the warmth returned.
\n\u201cOf course,\u201d she said. \u201cI only meant that we must be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n
She walked toward the rear cabin.
\nThe moment the door closed behind her, Daniel lowered his voice.
\n\u201cYour father appointed Evelyn because he trusted her more than anyone.\u201d
\n\u201cDid he ever try to replace her?\u201d
\nDaniel hesitated.
\nThat hesitation frightened me more than a direct answer.
\n\u201cThree days before his death,\u201d Daniel said, \u201cyour father requested documents to remove the trust protector.\u201d
\nI stared at him. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t I know?\u201d
\n\u201cHe canceled the meeting before signing them.\u201d
\n\u201cDid he say why?\u201d
\n\u201cNo. But Evelyn was the last person from Northstar to see him alive.\u201d
\nMy father had died from a sudden heart attack in his study. Evelyn said they had spent that evening reviewing quarterly reports. I remembered her standing beside me at the funeral, holding my hand while Grant greeted the directors.
\nBack then, I had believed I was surrounded by people protecting my father\u2019s legacy.
\nNow I wondered how many had been waiting to divide it.
\nWe landed in Seattle just after midnight. Rain struck the runway in silver sheets. Two black vehicles waited to take us to Cascade Biomedical, the company Grant had been trying to acquire.
\nReporters had already gathered outside the building.
\nGrant had acted quickly.
\nAs I stepped from the vehicle, questions exploded around me.
\n\u201cMrs. Hale, did you remove your husband while his child was being born?\u201d
\n\u201cIs this retaliation for his affair?\u201d
\n\u201cDid you know about the missing company funds?\u201d
\n\u201cAre you mentally capable of leading Northstar?\u201d
\nThat last question stopped me.
\nA reporter held up a printed statement bearing the letterhead of Grant\u2019s attorney. It claimed I had suffered an \u201cemotional breakdown\u201d after years of unsuccessful fertility treatment and had used my shares to punish my husband for having a child.
\nGrant had taken the most private pain of my life and turned it into a public defense.
\nEvelyn touched my elbow. \u201cDo not respond.\u201d
\nI stepped toward the cameras anyway.
\n\u201cMy medical history did not move $2.8 million into fraudulent accounts,\u201d I said. \u201cMy infertility did not forge corporate documents. And my husband becoming a father does not excuse him from becoming a thief.\u201d
\nThe questions stopped for one perfect second.
\nThen Daniel guided me inside.
\nOn the thirty-second floor, Cascade\u2019s founder, Martin Voss, was waiting in a glass conference room. He looked from me to Evelyn with obvious confusion.
\n\u201cWhere is Grant?\u201d he asked.
\n\u201cSuspended,\u201d I replied. \u201cThis acquisition will not proceed until every agreement has been reviewed.\u201d
\nMartin\u2019s face drained of color. \u201cBut your approval is already final.\u201d
\n\u201cI never approved it.\u201d
\nHe unlocked a cabinet and removed a thick contract. A yellow tab marked the final page.<\/p>\n
My signature appeared above my printed name.
\nBeneath it was the embossed seal of my family trust.
\nDaniel examined the page. \u201cThis seal is authentic.\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s impossible,\u201d I said. \u201cThe original seal is stored in my father\u2019s private vault.\u201d
\nEvelyn placed the blue folder on the table. \u201cOlivia, perhaps you signed an early authorization and forgot.\u201d
\n\u201cI do not forget signing away eighty-six million dollars.\u201d
\nMartin turned to his computer. \u201cGrant sent us a recording of the signing.\u201d
\nThe conference room screen flickered to life.
\nA video showed my father\u2019s study. I appeared to be sitting at his desk with the contract in front of me. The woman in the recording had my face, my voice, and even the small scar above my left eyebrow.
\nShe looked directly at the camera and said, \u201cI, Olivia Hale, authorize Northstar Medical Systems to proceed with the Cascade acquisition.\u201d
\nThe video was dated six weeks earlier.
\nSix weeks earlier, I had been in Paris attending a medical foundation conference.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s fabricated,\u201d I said.
\nDaniel moved closer to the screen. \u201cIt\u2019s more than fabricated. Whoever created this had access to archived security footage from your father\u2019s house.\u201d
\nOnly three people had ever received full access to that system: Grant, me, and Evelyn.
\nMy phone vibrated.
\nLena had sent a single message.
\nI FOUND THE OWNER OF ORISON ADVISORY. DO NOT LET EVELYN SEE THIS.
\nI opened the attached document beneath the table.
\nOrison Advisory\u2019s true owner was not Melissa\u2019s brother.
\nIt was Evelyn Shaw.
\nI raised my eyes.
\nEvelyn was no longer standing beside me.
\nThe blue folder was gone too.
\nDaniel rushed into the hallway. The elevator display showed a car descending toward the underground parking level.
\n\u201cWe need security downstairs,\u201d he shouted into his phone.
\nThen my phone rang from an unknown number.
\nI answered and heard Melissa sobbing.
\n\u201cOlivia, please don\u2019t hang up.\u201d
\n\u201cYou have ten seconds.\u201d
\n\u201cGrant lied to both of us,\u201d she whispered. \u201cHe told me the money was his. He told me you were signing everything.\u201d
\n\u201cWhy are you calling me?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause someone came into my hospital room after Grant left. She said if I talked, she would take my baby.\u201d
\n\u201cWho?\u201d
\nBefore Melissa could answer, a woman\u2019s voice sounded in the background.
\n\u201cPut down the phone.\u201d
\nMelissa screamed.
\nThe call ended.
\nAt that exact moment, Lena sent me a security image from the hospital.
\nIt showed Evelyn entering Melissa\u2019s room less than twenty minutes earlier.
\nI looked toward the elevator display.
\nThat was impossible.
\nEvelyn had been sitting beside me on the jet when the image was taken.<\/p>\n
Then the conference room door slowly opened behind us.
\nA woman stepped inside wearing Evelyn\u2019s cream suit.
\nShe removed her silver wig, placed the blue folder on the table, and smiled at me.
\n\u201cYou really are your father\u2019s daughter,\u201d she said.
\nI backed away. \u201cWho are you?\u201d
\nHer smile widened.
\n\u201cThe woman your father paid to disappear.\u201d
\nThen she slid a photograph across the table.
\nIt showed my father standing beside Evelyn and the stranger.
\nWritten across the bottom in my father\u2019s handwriting were six words that made my blood run cold:
\nONE OF THESE WOMEN WILL KILL ME\u2026<\/p>\n