Chapter 3 - SHADOWS IN THE BOARDROOM
The fifty-second floor of the CrossAtlas Tower in downtown Boston offered a panoramic view of the sun rising over the Atlantic. But inside the glass-walled boardroom, the mood was pitch black.
Evelyn Park slid a thick leather-bound folder across the glass table toward Nathaniel. Her eyes were rimmed with red; she had been up since 3:00 AM digging through the company's encrypted ledgers.
“It’s clean,” Evelyn whispered. “Too clean. Whoever did this didn’t just hack the system. They had master administrative keys. It’s either someone sitting on our executive committee... or someone who knew Clara’s old administrative passwords.”
Nathaniel’s hand paused over the folder. “Clara’s passwords were revoked the week after her funeral.”
“On paper, yes,” Evelyn replied grimly. “But three weeks ago, a ghost access protocol using her old security credentials logged into the main server from an IP address registered to a private residence in Cambridge.”
Nathaniel felt a cold knot form in his stomach. Using Clara’s memory as a backdoor to steal from his company wasn’t just business sabotage—it was personal desecration.
“Who owns the residence?” Nathaniel demanded.
“It’s held by an anonymous trust,” Evelyn said. “I’m having our private investigators run the deed through land registries, but it’s hidden behind four layers of offshore holding companies. Nathaniel, if news of this forty-million-dollar deficit leaks before the shareholder meeting next Friday, the stock will plunge thirty percent. The board will have grounds to force you out as CEO.”
Nathaniel stood up, pacing slowly toward the floor-to-ceiling glass. The city below was waking up, oblivious to the high-stakes game being played above the clouds.
“They don't want the money,” Nathaniel murmured, his eyes narrowing. “Forty million is pocket change for a takeover attempt. They want vulnerability. They want the public to think I’ve lost my grip on the company since Clara died.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Let them think I’m distracted,” Nathaniel said, his voice dropping an octave. “We hold the shareholder gala at the estate as planned next Thursday. We don't change a single detail. Whoever is pushing this play will be forced to make their final move before the voting begins.”
His phone buzzed on the glass table. It was a video call notification from the house monitoring system.
Nathaniel picked it up. On the screen, a live feed from the nursery showed Lily sitting on a plush rug. She was holding a plastic toy telephone to her ear, babbling incoherently with a fierce, serious expression on her face, occasionally shaking her head and tapping her tiny foot.
Evelyn looked over his shoulder and burst out laughing despite the overwhelming stress of the morning. “My God, Nathaniel. She’s giving a corporate performance. She’s firing her stuffed bear.”
Nathaniel stared at the screen. A tiny crack opened in his stoic facade once again. Lily looked up at the camera lens—as if she knew he was watching—and made her signature scowl.
“I need to go home,” Nathaniel said suddenly.
May you like
Evelyn blinked in surprise. “Now? Nathaniel, the forensic auditors are arriving in twenty minutes.”
“Handle them,” Nathaniel said, grabbing his suit jacket. “I have a board meeting I can’t afford to miss.”
