Chapter 10 - The Board Vote
I did not sleep.
At nine the next morning, the board met anyway.
Adrian demanded it.
Of course he did.
The long table filled with directors in dark suits.
Men and women who had known my name for less than forty-eight hours and already had opinions about my competence.
Adrian sat at the far end.
Calm.
Claudia refused the chair beside him.
She sat next to me.
The small act made three directors stare.
Bell began with the will.
Then DNA.
Then Box 317.
Adrian interrupted.
“We are not here to retry family history.”
I looked at him.
“No. We are here because you filed to suspend my voting rights.”
He smiled.
“Exactly.”
His counsel stood.
The argument was simple.
I was inexperienced.
Unprepared.
Emotionally compromised.
Potentially manipulated by Bell.
I almost laughed.
Rich people had better vocabulary than Victoria did when she told me to disappear.
Same message.
You do not belong here.
Then Adrian played the video.
Me.
Entering Rafael’s room at night.
Wearing my uniform.
Opening his medication cabinet.
My stomach dropped.
“That is not me.”
Adrian spread his hands.
“The camera suggests otherwise.”
Claudia leaned toward the screen.
“Wait.”
The woman used her right hand.
Keypad.
Drawer.
Medication bottle.
Evelyn, sitting behind us, said:
“Lucia is left-handed.”
Every head turned.
I lifted my left hand.
Eight months of serving them.
Pouring wine.
Writing notes.
Carrying trays.
They had all seen it.
Adrian’s face tightened.
Bell enlarged the footage.
Hair slightly too dark.
Shoes different.
Duplicate uniform.
Estate laundry tag visible.
Bell called the laundry supervisor.
One extra Lucia-size uniform checked out months earlier.
By:
Mara Voss.
The room erupted.
Adrian slammed his palm down.
“This proves nothing.”
Bell said, “It proves the recording you relied upon is staged.”
A director asked for delay.
Another wanted investigation.
Adrian called the vote anyway.
Suspend Lucia’s authority.
Five yes.
Five no.
One undecided.
Director Paul Ramsey.
He kept rubbing his wrist.
A fresh bruise circled it.
I noticed.
So did Claudia.
She whispered, “Dad met him last night.”
Ramsey looked at Adrian.
Adrian stared back.
No movement.
No words.
Ramsey swallowed.
Then said:
“No.”
Vote failed.
Adrian leaned back.
Smiled.
Too calm.
Every boardroom screen flickered.
A new file appeared.
Email headers.
Payments.
A confession.
Supposedly from Mara.
I skimmed.
I, Mara Voss, altered Rafael’s medication at Lucia Alvarez’s request.
My pulse slammed.
Adrian said:
“Perhaps we should find the nurse.”
Bell’s phone rang.
Police.
They had.
Mara was alive.
And awake.
I answered on speaker.
Her voice came weak.
“I never wrote that.”
Adrian’s smile vanished.
Mara continued.
“And if he says I did, ask him about Mateo.”
The board went silent.
Then she said:
“Adrian killed the wrong man first.”
May you like
CUT.
