Chapter 6 - The Board Vote
Mercer Maritime headquarters overlooked Port Everglades.
By nine forty-five, Naomi sat in her father’s former boardroom with Maya beside her.
Gabriel’s chair remained empty.
Bianca sat across from her.
Damian Cross sat at the far end.
He was fifty-two, silver-haired, calm, and dressed as if no accusation in the world could wrinkle him.
“Naomi,” he said warmly. “I’m sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances.”
She almost admired him.
“My father believed you stole millions.”
Damian did not blink.
Bianca’s lawyer objected to the accusation.
Damian raised a hand.
“Let her speak.”
Naomi opened Gabriel’s logbook.
“You approved vendors Dad believed were fraudulent.”
Damian leaned back.
“Gabriel was increasingly paranoid during his final year.”
Adrian, seated as trust protector, clenched his jaw.
Naomi said, “Convenient.”
“It’s tragic.”
“Also convenient.”
The emergency board agenda claimed Naomi had improperly removed confidential estate materials from the Asteria and threatened the company by contacting outside counsel without authorization.
Maya laughed.
“My client is a director and controlling trust beneficiary.”
Damian responded, “That control is disputed.”
He produced the alleged revocation.
Several directors looked uneasy.
Naomi’s father had built a board that included longtime allies.
But Gabriel was dead.
Fear shifted loyalties quickly.
Damian proposed suspending Naomi from board committees until probate court clarified voting authority.
Naomi looked around.
“You’re asking them to remove me based on a photocopy held by the man under investigation.”
Damian smiled.
“Investigated by whom?”
“Dad.”
“He’s dead.”
The sentence hit harder than Bianca’s cruelty had.
Naomi’s hand tightened.
Damian continued.
“Gabriel left notebooks. Recordings. Suspicions. He did not file criminal charges.”
Naomi hated that he was right.
Gabriel had delayed.
Again.
Damian turned to the board.
“We cannot govern a $340 million company through a scavenger hunt designed by a dying man.”
The vote was five to four.
Naomi lost her committee roles temporarily.
Not her board seat.
Not her trust interest.
But Damian had shown he controlled enough directors to isolate her.
Outside, Naomi punched the elevator button.
Maya said, “Don’t react emotionally.”
“I just got removed from committees based on fake paperwork.”
“Then prove it’s fake.”
“I should fire him.”
“You may not currently have enough undisputed voting authority.”
Naomi hated hearing limits.
Then she remembered Gabriel’s message.
Run the company.
Running meant not confusing anger with power.
“What can we do?”
“Get the original revocation.”
Adrian joined them.
“And freeze extraordinary transactions.”
As trust protector, he could refuse consent to major share transfers.
Naomi looked at him.
“Do it.”
He did.
That afternoon, Adrian formally notified the trustees that he would not consent to changes in voting control pending investigation.
Bianca responded by filing in Broward County probate court for emergency confirmation of her authority as personal representative.
She sought an order preventing Naomi from interfering with estate administration.
A judge scheduled a hearing.
The war became legal.
Meanwhile, Naomi returned to the Asteria.
Atlas greeted her at the gangway.
Lucas handed her a cup of coffee.
“You look like your father after a bad board meeting.”
“Did he lose many?”
“Not often.”
“Thanks.”
Lucas smiled.
“You asked.”
Naomi opened Gabriel’s log again.
One entry was underlined:
March 14 — D.C. met R.V. aboard Asteria. No guest log. Lucas observed.
Naomi looked at him.
“You saw R.V.”
Lucas’s expression changed.
“When?”
“March fourteenth.”
He remembered.
A man boarded after midnight using the service gangway.
Lucas saw him only briefly.
“Why wasn’t he logged?”
“Gabriel told me not to.”
“What did he look like?”
“Early sixties. Tall. Gray beard.”
“Name?”
Lucas shook his head.
“He wore a raincoat. Damian called him ‘Ray.’”
Naomi searched company records for Rays.
Raymond.
Rafael.
Ray.
Nothing obvious.
Then Atlas began scratching at Gabriel’s desk.
Naomi stared.
“What?”
He scratched again.
Lucas smiled faintly.
“Your father trained that dog to indicate compartments.”
“You’re joking.”
“No.”
Naomi knelt.
Under Gabriel’s desk was a narrow recessed panel.
The brass key from Atlas’s capsule fit another lock.
Second use.
Inside was a flash drive.
Label:
R.V.
Naomi inserted it into the laptop.
A single scanned passport appeared.
Name:
RICHARD VALE.
Naomi stared.
Vale.
She had heard the surname two hours earlier.
Preston Vale.
Bianca’s lawyer.
Naomi looked at Maya.
“Is Preston related to Richard Vale?”
Maya searched.
Then went still.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Richard Vale is his father.”
Naomi felt the room contract.
Richard Vale was not merely a stranger.
He was the retired chairman of North Atlantic Bank.
The bank holding Mercer Maritime’s largest credit facilities.
The same bank capable of forcing the company into default.
May you like
Gabriel’s conspiracy suddenly had a financial gatekeeper.
And Bianca’s lawyer was his son.
