Chapter 4 - The Monday Vote
Damian’s first instinct was to call the board and expose Adrian.
Elena stopped him.
“Proof first.”
“We have the memory card.”
“We have part of it.”
“What does that mean?”
“The camera battery died before they took me off the Aurelia.”
Damian paced the hospital conference room.
“We have Adrian saying, ‘Once Elena is gone, Damian will sign anything.’”
“A defense attorney will say he meant gone from the room.”
“We have Celeste telling someone to take your phone.”
“Still not kidnapping.”
“We have you.”
“Yes.”
“You can testify.”
Elena’s face changed.
“That’s what they’ll attack.”
“How?”
“I was held for eighteen months. Isolated. Drugged sometimes. They’ll say my memory is unreliable.”
“They can say whatever they want.”
“And juries hear it.”
Damian hated that she was right.
Special Agent Shaw entered carrying a folder.
“We pulled initial corporate records.”
Damian sat.
“What did you find?”
“Vale Oceanic’s Monday board vote concerns the Seaboard Consolidation Agreement.”
“Yes.”
Damian knew the deal.
The company planned to move six East Coast terminals into a new subsidiary called Atlantic Infrastructure Partners, then sell thirty-five percent to a private equity consortium.
It would reduce debt and fund offshore wind expansion.
Adrian had championed the deal.
Shaw slid over a ownership chart.
“Who controls Atlantic Infrastructure Partners?”
“Vale Oceanic.”
“Currently.”
Damian frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“An amendment filed Thursday would issue preferred voting units to Harbor Meridian Capital.”
The name from Elena’s recording.
Damian read faster.
“How many?”
“Enough to give Harbor Meridian veto rights over asset sales and refinancing.”
“Who owns Harbor Meridian?”
“That’s unclear.”
“It’s a Delaware LLC.”
“We know.”
“Beneficial ownership?”
“Filed through a registered agent.”
Elena said, “Adrian.”
Damian looked at her.
“You’re sure?”
“He told Celeste the company would be theirs once the terminals moved.”
Damian looked back at Shaw.
“If the board approves Monday, six terminals worth nearly two billion dollars move into an entity Harbor Meridian can influence.”
“Correct.”
“And Adrian concealed that?”
“It appears he disclosed Harbor Meridian as a financing partner, not a related party.”
That could amount to securities fraud, self-dealing, breach of fiduciary duty, and potentially federal offenses depending on the financing.
Damian stared at the document.
“They weren’t just trying to take my company.”
Elena shook her head.
“They were taking the assets out of it.”
Lucas appeared in the doorway wearing hospital socks.
“Dad?”
Damian immediately softened.
“What are you doing up?”
“I heard Mom.”
Elena opened her arms.
Lucas climbed beside her.
“Are we going home?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Lucas looked between them.
“Dad?”
Damian crouched.
“We can’t go home yet.”
“Because Celeste knows where we live?”
“Yes.”
“Does Adrian?”
Damian froze.
Lucas knew Adrian.
Uncle Adrian.
Birthday gifts.
Baseball games.
Christmas mornings.
“How do you know Adrian is involved?”
Lucas looked confused.
“He was on the boat.”
“What boat?”
“Last night.”
Damian stared.
“Adrian was on the Aurelia?”
Lucas nodded.
“No, he wasn’t,” Damian said automatically. “He’s in New York.”
Lucas shook his head.
“I saw him.”
“When?”
“Before dinner. Downstairs.”
Damian felt cold.
“Where downstairs?”
“By the engine stairs.”
“Did he see you?”
“No.”
“Are you certain it was Adrian?”
“He has the silver watch with the blue face.”
Adrian’s custom Patek Philippe.
Damian stood.
“Shaw.”
She was already on her phone.
The Aurelia’s passenger manifest listed Adrian nowhere.
Bridge logs recorded no tender arrival.
But when investigators pulled harbor-camera footage from Newport, they found a black launch approaching the yacht thirty-seven minutes before departure.
A man in a hooded raincoat boarded through the service platform.
He left twenty-two minutes later.
His face never appeared clearly.
But his wrist did.
Blue-faced watch.
Shaw said, “If Adrian boarded secretly, he may have delivered Elena himself.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“He did.”
Damian looked at her.
“You saw him?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say that?”
“Because he told me something before he left.”
“What?”
Elena’s hand tightened around Lucas.
“He said you had already signed the Monday agreement.”
Damian stared at her.
“I haven’t.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Shaw looked up.
“Mr. Vale, when is the last time you digitally signed corporate documents?”
“Friday.”
“How?”
“My encrypted executive tablet.”
“Where is it?”
Damian reached instinctively for his bag.
Then stopped.
The tablet had been aboard the Aurelia.
May you like
In Celeste’s private safe.
And Celeste knew his six-digit passcode.
