Chapter 6 - The Secondary Beneficiary
The screen of my phone lit up the dark study, the white text casting a sharp glow against my fingers. Adrian’s threat was clear, but the underlying panic was clearer. He was thrashing in the water, dragging at anything he could reach, convinced that if he sank, he could pull my father’s legacy down with him.
Naomi leaned over the desk, her eyes scanning the text over my shoulder. "He’s bluffing about the SEC audit," she said instantly, though her expression was tight with concentration. "The commission doesn't launch surprise probes based on anonymous executive panic. Martin Hale might have flagged the margin discrepancy, but an actual investigation takes weeks of formal filing reviews."
"He's trying to make me blink," I said, sliding the black leather folder back into my lap. I traced the embossed gold seal of Vance & Associates with my thumb. "He knows about the addendum. Or at least, he suspects my father left a mechanism to check him."
"If your father signed this conditional voting assignment," Naomi said, her finger tapping against the parchment clause we had just uncovered, "it means Adrian’s margin loan on the Brooklyn property isn't just an internal corporate misstep. Under Section 4, Paragraph B, any unauthorized encumbrance of company assets during a pending merger constitutes an automatic breach of fiduciary duty. It voids his executive standing entirely."
I looked up, meeting her eyes in the dim light of the study. "Which means Adrian isn't just a CEO who lost his voting block. He’s legally exposed to personal liability for the entire six-million-dollar deficit."
"Exactly," Naomi said, a grim smile touching her lips. "He thought he was threatening you with a ruinous audit. What he actually did was hand you the key to lock him out of the company for good—and recover every penny he drained."
"I don't want a ruined company, Naomi," I said softly, resting a hand on my stomach where our baby gave a faint, reassuring kick. "I want a clean break, and I want Bennett Holdings secure. Adrian built his entire public identity on being the untouchable architect of my father's empire. If we drop this document on the board tomorrow morning, the media won't just see a divorce. They'll see a fraud."
"Are you ready for that kind of war?" Naomi asked. "Celeste and Adrian will spin it as a vengeful ex-wife staging a coup."
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"Let them try," I said, standing up from the desk, the leather folder clutched securely against my chest. "Let's call Martin Hale. It's time to bring the real paperwork to the table."
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