Chapter 10 - Victor’s Unfinished Amendment
Grace Holloway remembered the amendment.
That revelation almost ended Isabella’s trust in her too.
They sat in the secure house.
Isabella stared.
“You knew Dad was changing the trust.”
“Yes.”
“You told me you didn’t know everything.”
“I didn’t.”
“Stop speaking like a lawyer.”
Grace exhaled.
“Victor asked me to draft an amendment six years ago.”
“To remove Charles’s branch?”
“To change the contingent beneficiary.”
“If I died before thirty-five.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He said Charles had become financially conflicted.”
“You didn’t ask?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“He would not give me the evidence.”
Isabella shook her head.
“Everyone protected information until it became useless.”
Grace accepted that.
“The amendment was never executed.”
“Why?”
“Victor postponed the signing meeting twice.”
“He died before the third.”
“Yes.”
“So legally it changes nothing.”
“Correct.”
Isabella appreciated the clarity.
No miraculous hidden inheritance.
No paper suddenly rewriting six years of estate administration.
The unsigned amendment mattered as evidence of Victor’s intent and Charles’s motive.
Nothing more.
Grace continued.
“Victor wanted an independent charitable trust to receive the voting shares if you died before thirty-five.”
“So Camille gets nothing.”
“Under the proposed amendment.”
“And Charles knew.”
“Apparently.”
Julian possessing the draft meant he could prove motive.
It also meant Charles might kill him if cornered.
Isabella almost smiled at the thought.
Maria saw.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t need to.”
Investigators traced Orion Blue.
The buyer was a legitimate private-equity consortium on paper.
Its investment committee likely knew nothing about attempted murder.
But a side vehicle, OBC Management Partners II, contained undisclosed interests linked to Charles and Julian.
If the Laurent assets sold for $1.62 billion, the consortium could later recapitalize them at a much higher valuation.
Julian’s carried interest became enormously valuable.
The transaction had to close before Isabella gained sole voting authority.
A clock.
Every conspiracy seemed to have one.
At noon, the Laurent board met.
Isabella appeared by secure video.
The directors looked stunned.
One actually cried.
Charles did not.
Julian sat beside him.
When Isabella appeared on the screen, Julian’s face remained almost perfectly controlled.
“Bella.”
“Mr. Cross.”
That hurt him.
Good.
Board chair Charles spoke.
“We are relieved you’re alive.”
Isabella stared at him.
“Are you?”
Silence.
She continued.
“I will not approve Orion.”
Charles replied, “Your judgment is affected by trauma.”
“Then vote on my employment if you want.”
Julian intervened.
“Isabella, nobody wants a war.”
She looked at him.
“You locked me inside a flooding cabin.”
Several directors reacted.
Julian’s attorney whispered to him.
Julian said, “That allegation is under investigation.”
Camille’s father stared at the screen.
Isabella continued.
“Camille is alive.”
Charles’s jaw tightened.
“And cooperating.”
Julian’s expression finally cracked.
Board members began whispering.
Charles said, “This is not the forum.”
“It became the forum when you put Orion on the agenda before the Coast Guard finished searching for my body.”
One director looked at Charles.
“Is that true?”
The agenda showed it was.
Power shifted.
Not enough.
But visibly.
Charles called for executive session.
Before the feed ended, Isabella said, “Julian.”
He looked at her.
“My father’s amendment.”
His face went still.
“I know you have it.”
Charles turned toward Julian.
There.
The fracture Isabella wanted.
She ended the call.
Maria smiled faintly.
“You did that on purpose.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Within thirty minutes, Charles called Julian eleven times.
Julian answered only twice.
They were separating.
That evening, someone broke into Cross Strategic Partners.
Security footage showed masked individuals removing two document boxes and a laptop.
Julian accused Charles.
Charles denied it.
Investigators recovered traffic-camera footage of a vehicle registered to a Meridian Crest contractor.
Grace said, “They’re consuming each other.”
Isabella felt satisfaction.
Then shame.
Then satisfaction again.
Maria understood.
“You don’t have to feel morally clean every minute.”
“Thank God.”
At midnight, Isabella received an encrypted email.
No sender name.
Attached was a scan of Victor’s unsigned amendment.
And one sentence.
CHARLES ORDERED REEVES TO INCREASE THE DOSE.
Isabella’s heartbeat accelerated.
A second attachment contained an audio file.
Victor’s voice.
Charles’s voice.
Dr. Reeves’s voice.
But before she could play it, Agent Ruiz stopped her.
“Malware risk.”
“Forensic copy first.”
The email had been sent through anonymized servers.
Julian was the obvious source.
Or someone wanted them to think so.
The audio was safely extracted.
Victor said:
“Alan, why is this drug in my blood?”
Reeves:
“Victor, calm down.”
Charles:
“You’re sick. Stop turning everything into conspiracy.”
Victor:
“You paid him.”
Then a crash.
The recording ended.
Not a murder confession.
But a confrontation.
Isabella stared at Maria.
Her father had recorded the men who may have poisoned him.
Then Agent Ruiz received another alert.
Dr. Alan Reeves had booked a one-way flight from Palm Beach to São Paulo.
May you like
Departure in three hours.
Someone had warned the doctor.
