Chapter 10 - The Boardroom Coup
Costello Holdings occupied the top fifteen floors of a glass tower overlooking the river.
By the time Gabriel arrived, the board meeting had already begun.
Victor stood at the head of the table.
His injured leg was braced.
Two private guards stood behind him.
Seven board members sat frozen in their chairs.
Gabriel entered with Beatrice.
Chloe walked beside her.
Nico and Anthony followed.
Victor looked disappointed.
“I expected the courthouse to keep you longer.”
Gabriel closed the door.
“You bribed Hale.”
Victor smiled.
“Prove it.”
Nico placed the flash drive on the table.
“I can.”
Victor looked at his son.
For the first time, something resembling sadness crossed his face.
“You could have inherited everything.”
Nico's jaw tightened.
“I inherited enough.”
“Ungrateful.”
“You taught me what loyalty looked like.”
Victor smiled.
“And apparently I taught badly.”
Beatrice walked to the table.
Victor looked at her.
“You should have stayed home.”
Beatrice signed.
Chloe translated.
“She says you should have stayed honest.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“I don't need a waitress interpreting family business.”
Gabriel pulled out a chair for Chloe.
“She stays.”
Victor laughed.
“That is exactly what I mean.”
Gabriel sat at the opposite end.
“You called the meeting without me.”
Victor gestured toward the board.
“Emergency leadership provisions.”
“Based on Mother's incompetency petition.”
“Yes.”
“It was dismissed.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
Gabriel placed the original trust on the table.
“And now this exists.”
Every board member leaned forward.
Victor stared.
“That document is invalid.”
“You haven't read it.”
“I don't need to.”
“Why?”
Victor said nothing.
Gabriel smiled coldly.
“Because you already knew what it said.”
Nico connected his laptop to the presentation screen.
Financial transfers appeared.
Dates.
Accounts.
Shell companies.
Victor's name.
Nico's name.
Other executives.
Gabriel looked around the room.
“Eighty-seven million.”
Nobody spoke.
Victor remained calm.
“Operational funds.”
“Transferred to companies you controlled.”
“For acquisitions.”
“Name one acquisition.”
Victor's silence answered.
Gabriel continued.
“Dr. Brennan falsified my mother's medical report.”
Victor looked toward the window.
“According to whom?”
“According to prescription records.”
“Circumstantial.”
“According to Nico.”
Victor looked at his son.
“An admitted accomplice.”
Nico nodded.
“Yes.”
Victor seemed surprised.
Nico continued.
“I helped move money.”
“I helped hide reports.”
“I lied to Gabriel.”
“I followed Leo Bennett the night he died.”
Chloe's chest tightened.
Nico looked at her.
“I am prepared to testify to all of it.”
Victor laughed.
“You think prosecutors will give you a medal?”
“No.”
“I think they'll give me prison.”
Victor stared.
Nico's voice remained steady.
“But you will be there longer.”
Victor's face changed.
The board members began whispering.
Victor slammed his hand on the table.
“Enough.”
Everyone stopped.
Victor looked at Gabriel.
“You want the truth?”
Gabriel leaned back.
“Try it.”
Victor pointed toward Beatrice.
“Your father was dying.”
His voice filled the room.
“He left a company with debt, enemies, union problems, political pressure and a son who thought honor could run an empire.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“I kept it alive.”
“You stole from it.”
“I paid people who needed paying.”
“You killed people who became inconvenient.”
Victor looked toward Chloe.
“One boy.”
Her blood ran cold.
Gabriel stood.
Victor's guards moved.
Anthony stepped forward.
“Don't.”
Victor smiled.
“Yes.”
Chloe felt Beatrice's hand close around hers.
Victor continued.
“Leo saw Mercer searching the church office.”
Chloe could barely breathe.
“He took a photograph.”
“What photograph?”
Victor's smile widened.
“One showing Mercer with me.”
Chloe's eyes filled.
“Leo threatened to go to police.”
“No.”
“He went to Walsh.”
“That was enough.”
Chloe's voice broke.
“You ordered Mercer to hit him.”
Victor looked at her calmly.
“I told Mercer to stop him from reaching the station.”
Gabriel crossed the room.
Victor's guards raised weapons.
Anthony drew his own.
Nico stepped between them.
The board members ducked.
Beatrice slammed both hands on the table.
Victor looked at her.
She signed slowly.
Chloe translated despite her shaking voice.
“She says Carlo was right about you.”
Victor's face twisted.
Beatrice continued.
“You were always afraid of men stronger than you.”
Victor laughed.
“Carlo is dead.”
Beatrice signed.
And still you are losing to him.
Victor lunged toward the trust.
Gabriel caught his wrist.
They struggled.
One guard moved.
Anthony struck him.
The second guard reached inside his jacket.
Nico tackled him.
Chairs crashed.
Chloe pulled Beatrice away.
Victor grabbed a heavy glass decanter from the sideboard.
He swung at Gabriel.
Gabriel blocked it.
The decanter shattered against the table.
Victor stumbled.
Gabriel pinned him against the wall.
“You killed Leo.”
Victor smiled through blood at the corner of his mouth.
“I gave an order.”
Gabriel's fist drew back.
Chloe shouted.
“Don't.”
Gabriel froze.
Everyone looked at her.
She stepped closer.
“He wants you to.”
Victor's smile faded.
Chloe's voice trembled.
“He wants you to become the thing he says you are.”
Gabriel stared at Victor.
His fist slowly lowered.
Chloe looked at Nico.
“Call the police.”
Victor laughed.
“The police?”
“Yes.”
“You think this ends in a courtroom?”
Chloe looked directly at him.
“No.”
“It ends with everyone knowing you lost.”
That was the first thing that frightened him.
Sirens approached twenty minutes later.
Walsh had already sent copies of the files to federal investigators.
Victor's private guards surrendered.
Two board members were detained.
Another tried to leave and discovered agents waiting downstairs.
Victor was handcuffed in the boardroom he had tried to steal.
As officers led him away, he stopped beside Chloe.
“You think Leo was innocent in all this?”
She stared at him.
Victor smiled.
“There are things in that trust case your little friend Beatrice never showed you.”
Gabriel stepped between them.
“Keep walking.”
Victor laughed as officers took him away.
May you like
Chloe looked toward the case.
Beatrice had gone pale.
