At nine the next morning, six board members gathered around the long table.

Isabella sat at the head before Alejandro entered.

“You’re in my chair,” he said.

“Until the vote is complete.”

Alejandro pulled out the seat opposite her.

Elena sat beside him, with Emma and Gabriel near the door.

Isabella addressed the board.

“Alejandro was found incapacitated after drinking wine prepared by an employee with whom he had a secret relationship.”

Elena stood.

“I did not prepare his wine.”

“Your code erased the recording.”

“My code was copied.”

“Money was deposited in your name.”

“Into an account created without my knowledge.”

Isabella spread her hands.

“Every piece of evidence is false except the part that points to you?”

Alejandro placed the hidden phone on the table.

“And every accident gives you control of my company?”

The eldest board member, Arthur Bell, adjusted his glasses.

“Can the recording on that phone be recovered?”

“The phone was remotely wiped,” Gabriel said.

Isabella smiled.

“Then there is no recording.”

Arthur looked at Alejandro.

“Without proof, the emergency clause requires us to vote.”

One hand rose for Isabella.

Then another.

A third board member lifted his hand, giving her the majority.

Isabella leaned back.

“Alejandro, surrender your keys and access card.”

Emma whispered, “Is the mean lady winning?”

Isabella heard her.

“Children should not be present for adult consequences.”

Elena rose.

“Do not speak to my daughter.”

“Your daughter is the reason Alejandro cannot think clearly.”

“No,” Alejandro said.

“She is the reason I am alive to hear you lie.”

Isabella held out her hand.

“The access card.”

Alejandro placed it on the table.

Her fingers closed over it.

The conference room doors opened, and Gabriel’s elderly mother, Rosa, entered carrying a small sewing box.

Gabriel stared.

“Mama?”

“You left your coat at my house last week,” Rosa said.

“When I repaired the lining, I found this.”

She removed a tiny memory card.

Gabriel’s hand went to his pocket.

“Luca switched coats with me after the staff inspection.”

“He hid the card in the lining,” Rosa said.

“Perhaps he meant to retrieve it before you went home.”

Isabella stood.

“That proves nothing.”

Arthur inserted the card into the conference computer.

The missing seven minutes appeared on the screen.

A hooded figure entered Alejandro’s study and tipped a vial into the wine.

The face remained hidden, but the silver bracelet flashed beneath the sleeve.

Three diamonds surrounded an empty setting.

Every eye moved to Isabella’s wrist.

She tore the bracelet off.

“Jewelry is not identity.”

The recording continued.

Luca entered and said, “You have three minutes before Alejandro arrives.”

Isabella’s voice answered, “Once he reacts, use Elena’s code.

Put the vial downstairs and call the number I gave you.”

Arthur paused the video.

Isabella reached for the computer.

Gabriel caught her wrist.

“Let go of me!”

“You’re not destroying this copy.”

She turned to Alejandro.

“Listen to me.

I did this for the company.

You were going to give Elena influence, and now you’re handing everything to a child you met last night.”

“You knew Emma was mine.”

“I knew she would replace me.”

“So you tried to remove both her parents.”

Isabella’s face twisted.

“I spent twenty years cleaning up after you while Father gave you everything.”

“You could have asked for your share.”

“I wanted the part that made people respect you.”

Arthur stood and removed his board pin.

“My vote is withdrawn.”

The other two members followed.

Isabella grabbed Emma’s backpack from beside the door and pulled out the injector.

“One step closer, and I break this.”

Elena moved before anyone else.

“That belongs to my child.”

Isabella held it over the marble floor.

“Then give me the memory card and let me leave.”

Emma slipped her hand into Elena’s.

“Mama, don’t trade the truth.

Gabriel has another one in his pocket.”

Isabella looked at Gabriel.

That single glance was enough.

Elena took the injector from Isabella’s loosened fingers, and Gabriel opened the doors.

Two investigators stood outside beside Luca, whose hands were secured in front of him.

Luca pointed at Isabella.

May you like

My mother leaned across the restaurant table, looked my 13-year-old adop…

My mother leaned across the restaurant table, looked my 13-year-old adopted daughter straight in the eye, and whispered, “We don’t…

“You can’t upstage your sister like this.” My mother said that after my…

“You can’t upstage your sister like this.” My mother said that after my family chose Madison’s wedding over mine and told me to mo…

THE SOLDIER AT THE DOOR

THE SOLDIER AT THE DOOR

“She planned all of it,” he said.

“And I’ve already told them where she kept the original server.”