Chapter 7 - The Vote at Nine.
By midnight, the house felt less like a home and more like a building holding its breath.
Mason moved everyone into the main sitting room where there were no locked drawers, no hidden compartments, and no easy exits from a difficult conversation.
Lena Ortiz arrived twenty minutes later with two laptops, a leather briefcase, and the expression of an attorney who had already decided she disliked the evening.
She read the forged termination letter first.
Then she reviewed the trust documents Mason had recovered from the library.
Finally, she looked at Patricia.
"Did you schedule tomorrow's vote?"
Patricia shook her head.
"No."
Mason leaned back.
"You expect us to believe that?"
"I expected to remove Clara from the house."
Clara flinched at the bluntness.
Patricia continued.
"I did not call a board vote."
Lena turned the laptop so everyone could see the notice.
The request had been filed at 5:18 p.m. by someone using Patricia's executive authorization.
Patricia studied the code.
"That is not my current code."
Mason gave a humorless smile.
"Interesting feeling, isn't it?"
Patricia looked at him sharply.
She understood the point.
Someone had now done to her what she had done to him.
Lena scrolled to the supporting documents.
"The motion claims Mason is temporarily unable to act objectively because of an undisclosed family conflict."
Clara stared at the screen.
"Me."
"Probably," Lena said.
The motion also claimed that Clara's status created uncertainty around the trust and that Patricia should receive interim authority until the matter was reviewed.
Mason read the final page.
"Who benefits if she controls the shares?"
Lena tapped the company chart.
"The board is considering a merger offer next week."
Mason's expression changed.
The offer came from Northstar Capital, a private investment firm that had been trying to acquire a controlling position in Cross Meridian for nearly a year.
Mason had rejected them twice.
"If Patricia gets Avery's voting block, can she approve the merger?"
"Not alone."
Lena looked at Clara.
"But if Clara is absent or legally removed as protector, Patricia's vote becomes much more powerful."
Clara sat very still.
"So someone needs me gone by nine tomorrow morning."
Nobody contradicted her.
Avery slept upstairs, unaware that adults were discussing her future in percentages and signatures.
Mason hated that most of all.
Patricia stood and walked to the window.
"Northstar contacted me six months ago."
Mason stood immediately.
"You never told me."
"Because I refused them."
"What did they want?"
"Information about the trust structure."
Lena's face sharpened.
"Did you give them anything?"
"No."
Clara looked unconvinced.
"Then how did they know I existed?"
Patricia turned slowly.
That question had no comfortable answer.
Mason thought back to the genealogy records, the hidden box, the stolen phone, and the fake departure car.
"Someone has been watching this house from the inside."
Lena nodded.
"Or someone with old access."
Daniel Price entered carrying printed security logs.
"We found the old study login."
Mason looked up.
"Who used it?"
Daniel placed the papers on the table.
"The terminal was accessed remotely."
Patricia frowned.
"From where?"
"An office in the east wing."
Mason thought through the rooms.
The east wing held accounting, household administration, and one private office used only a few days each month.
"Whose office?"
Daniel's expression tightened.
"Mr. Vale's."
Patricia went pale.
Clara looked from her to Mason.
"Who is Mr. Vale?"
Mason answered.
"Patricia's brother."
Patricia gripped the back of a chair.
"Graham has not been here in three weeks."
Daniel shook his head.
"His access card entered the property yesterday at 11:07 p.m."
Patricia stared at the log.
"That's impossible."
Mason looked at her.
"Apparently impossible is having a productive night."
Lena clicked open the emergency vote notice again.
"There is one way to stop tomorrow's vote."
Clara looked at her.
"What?"
"The family protector can file an objection before eight thirty."
Clara's eyes widened.
"Me."
Lena nodded.
"But your authority has to be verified first."
"How?"
Lena looked toward the blue box.
"We need Evelyn's original amendment."
Patricia spoke without turning from the window.
"You won't find it here."
Mason's jaw tightened.
"Where is it?"
May you like
Patricia looked at him.
"Graham took it yesterday."
