Chapter 8 - The Queen Returns
The boardroom doors slid open completely.
Pushed in a sleek, cushioned wheelchair by Ethan, I entered the room. I was wrapped in a tailored black velvet coat, my hair neatly pinned, and in my arms, wrapped in a pale pink cashmere blanket, was my daughter Victoria. I was pale from surgery, yes, but my eyes were blazing with the unyielding fire of an empress who had survived an assassination attempt.
Daniel took three steps backward until his thighs hit the conference table. His jaw dropped so far it looked dislocated.
"C—Claire...?" he squeaked, his voice trembling so violently he could barely form the syllables. "You... you're alive? The baby...?"
"You sound disappointed, Daniel," I said softly, my voice echoing across the silent boardroom. "Did you expect Dr. Hale to be calling the mortuary by now?"
"Claire, no! You have it all wrong!" Daniel scrambled forward, falling to his knees beside my wheelchair, attempting to reach for my hand. "It was Hale! Hale threatened me! He wanted money and he set me up! I swear on our baby's life, Claire, I love you! I would never hurt you!"
Ethan stepped forward and planted his boot firmly against Daniel’s chest, shoving him back across the hardwood floor with effortless force. "Don't you dare touch her. And don't you dare speak about that child."
I gestured to Sterling. "Arthur, display Exhibit A on the boardroom monitors, please."
With a click of a remote, the massive eighty-inch screens on the boardroom wall illuminated.
First came the crystal-clear audio recording from last night:
*“Infect her and let her die in delivery. I’ll pay you $500,000! Once Claire is gone, everything transfers cleanly... Vanessa is already five months pregnant. I’m tired of hiding her.”*
Daniel curled into a fetal position on the floor, covering his ears as his own voice echoed through the speakers, destroying every shred of his dignity before the very executives he had tried to swindle.
Then, the screens shifted to bank statements, offshore wire transfers, hotel surveillance footage of Daniel and Vanessa entering luxury suites, and finally, a live video feed from the precinct showing Dr. Marcus Hale sitting in an interrogation room, signing a full, detailed confession under federal oath.
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"You're done, Daniel," I said quietly, looking down at him with nothing but pure pity and disgust. "The board has already voted unanimously to remove you from every entity. The police are waiting downstairs in the lobby. You have nothing. You are nothing."
***
