Chapter 12 - LOCKED WITH THE BOARD
The directors were already arriving when the lockdown began.
Nine people trapped on the executive floor.
Me.
Vanessa.
Ethan.
Rachel.
Four directors.
And Bellmont's CFO, Simon Greer.
Nathan appeared by video. Behind him was Raymond Pike.
Older.
Smiling.
Alive.
I had spent the afternoon chasing ghosts.
Now two of them were looking back.
Nathan said, "At midnight, this company belongs to the trust."
Rachel smiled. "No."
She explained the audit trigger.
The fraudulent death clause.
The permanent freeze on his succession rights.
Pike swore.
"You lied to me."
"For years."
I almost admired her.
Then Pike raised a tablet.
"Doesn't matter. We still have the operational keys."
Pike had taken control of building security through an old disaster-recovery channel.
Doors.
Elevators.
Fire controls.
Private data.
Vanessa whispered, "He can lock the whole resort."
"He already did," Ethan said.
Hundreds of guests were being moved to safe areas by local teams.
Pike wanted the Blue Meridian certificate.
Nathan wanted my medallion.
They offered a trade.
Unlock the executive floor.
Release the hotel systems.
Give them both items.
"No."
"You still think principles protect people."
"No. People protect people."
I handed the certificate to Rachel.
"Upload it to regulators."
She did.
Pike's smile vanished.
Nathan shouted.
The certificate, Claire's video, the death certificate, the forged trust documents, and the old surveillance footage went to outside counsel and federal investigators.
The room erupted.
One director tried to leave.
Doors stayed locked.
Simon Greer stood strangely still.
"Simon?"
He reached inside his jacket.
Not a gun.
A small black transmitter.
The founder screen died.
"What did you do?"
Simon backed away.
"Insurance."
Claire had warned me the betrayer was still on the board.
Rachel had been the decoy.
Simon was the active one.
He had been Nathan's money man for eleven years.
"You can expose old fraud."
He pointed toward the dead screens.
"But without the founder ledger, you can't prove who owns Bellmont tonight."
The ledger was in the Level B vault.
And the vault was now sealed behind Pike's security lock.
Then an alarm sounded.
Not digital.
Mechanical.
From inside the wall.
May you like
My mother's old emergency bell.
Founder evacuation route.
