Chapter 8 - The Board at Midnight.
The ballroom doors opened at 11:26 p.m.
Rowan walked in first.
Evan pushed Elise in a service wheelchair behind her.
Miriam followed with the ledger hidden beneath a folded tablecloth.
Vivian sat at the center of the board table in her black dress and gold jewelry.
She looked untouched by smoke, sirens, or guilt.
Marcus stood beside a screen displaying Meridian Development's purchase offer.
“Security,” Vivian said.
No one moved.
Most of the guards had seen the guest videos of her shoving Rowan.
Evan took his place beside Rowan.
The board members stared when Elise lifted her scarred face.
One older director began to cry.
“Elise Blackwood is dead,” Vivian said.
Elise answered softly.
“You paid for a grave without a body.”
Marcus raised the founder's key.
“This object was recovered from Mr. Wright, who admitted removing it from the lobby.”
Rowan took her replica from her pocket.
The two keys looked identical.
“Which one activated the trust?” she asked.
Marcus's jaw tightened.
Miriam placed the leather ledger before the directors.
It listed millions diverted from the Aurelia employee pension fund into companies controlled by Vivian.
Vivian did not look at the pages.
“Every entry is a forgery.”
Elise rolled forward.
“I signed the first transfers because you held my newborn daughter in the next room.”
The board erupted.
Vivian struck the table with her palm.
“She is unstable.”
“Then let me testify under oath.”
Marcus interrupted.
“The board is not a courtroom.”
The youngest director, Naomi Bell, opened the ledger to a page bearing her father's employee number.
He had worked forty years in the Aurelia kitchen and died believing his pension had vanished through a market loss.
Naomi looked across the table at Vivian.
“You sent flowers to his funeral.”
Vivian's face remained still.
“I sent flowers to every employee funeral.”
“That does not make it kindness.”
Naomi pushed her copy of the Meridian agreement away.
“No,” Rowan said.
“It is the room where you expected money to matter more than truth.”
Marcus called for the vote.
Five directors supported delaying the sale.
Five supported Meridian.
Vivian held the deciding vote.
Miriam whispered that the original will could suspend her voting rights.
Rowan looked through the open ballroom doors at the lobby chandelier.
Firefighters moved ladders beneath it.
She handed the remote to Evan.
“The key is not the only way to lower it.”
Evan ran toward the maintenance panel.
Vivian raised her hand.
“I vote to approve the sale.”
Before the secretary could record it, the chandelier lights died.
The ballroom went dark.
A gunshot cracked from the balcony.
Glass exploded above the board table.
Rowan threw herself over Elise.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Miriam aimed Daniel's gun toward the balcony, but the shooter was gone.
Marcus crawled beneath the table.
Vivian remained in her chair, staring at the shattered glass in front of her.
A bullet had pierced her written vote.
Evan returned from the lobby.
“The chandelier control cable has been cut.”
Rowan picked up the damaged ballot.
On its back, someone had written a message in black ink.
STOP THE SALE OR ELISE DIES AT MIDNIGHT.
The ballroom clock showed 11:41.
Then Rowan looked at the wheelchair.
It was empty.
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THE WOMAN BENEATH THE CHANDELIERS
