Chapter 6 - THE TRAP INSIDE MILLER MERIDIAN
My father watched the video twice.
Then he looked at me.
“It’s edited.”
I almost admired his confidence.
“Convenient.”
“Jason, look at the clock behind me.”
Claire replayed the footage.
A brass clock stood on the wall.
Its second hand jumped strangely after Thomas signed the documents.
Claire leaned closer.
“He may be right.”
My father did not smile.
“Daniel has been collecting recordings for years. Board meetings. Private calls. Office security. He could build almost any conversation he wanted.”
“Then what did you actually say?”
Thomas thought for a moment.
“That meeting was about your succession plan in case the federal investigation became public.”
I stared at him.
“What federal investigation?”
He closed his eyes.
My patience disappeared.
“Dad.”
“The SEC contacted me privately two months ago.”
“You hid a federal investigation from the CEO?”
“I was trying to determine whether Daniel had compromised anyone inside the agency.”
Emma crossed her arms.
“And how well has all this secret strategy worked so far?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Poorly.”
It was possibly the first admission of failure I had ever heard from my father.
Claire examined the memory card.
“Someone wanted us to find this.”
“Daniel,” I said.
“To turn you against your father.”
“It nearly worked.”
Thomas gave me a humorless glance.
“It still might.”
My phone buzzed.
An emergency board meeting had been scheduled for nine the next morning.
Requested by Daniel Cross.
Subject:
CEO FITNESS AND FIDUCIARY EXPOSURE.
There it was.
The real attack.
Daniel did not simply want money.
He wanted Miller Meridian.
By seven the next morning, financial news channels were reporting leaked allegations that I had authorized hundreds of millions in fraudulent transfers.
My photograph appeared beneath words like CORRUPTION, PENSION FRAUD, and CEO SCANDAL.
One article mentioned that “personal instability” had recently disrupted operations at Emerald Tower.
Someone had even leaked the existence of Liam and Lucas.
Emma turned off the television.
“He’s using them.”
“Not for long.”
“What are you going to do?”
I adjusted my tie.
“Go to work.”
“No.”
The force of her answer surprised me.
“You walk into that building now and you’re doing exactly what you always do.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Choosing the company.”
I felt anger rise.
“This company is why someone is hunting you.”
“And those boys are why you should think before charging into a boardroom because your pride got hurt.”
“My pride?”
“Yes.”
She stepped closer.
“Daniel wants you angry. He wants you obsessed with winning. He knows exactly who you are.”
That stopped me.
Emma lowered her voice.
“Be someone he doesn’t understand.”
I looked toward the living room.
Liam and Lucas were building a fortress out of couch cushions.
“What do you suggest?”
“Protect the evidence. Protect the boys. Then let Daniel believe he’s winning.”
Claire smiled slightly.
“I like her.”
“I remember,” I muttered.
At nine o’clock, I appeared at the board meeting by video.
Daniel sat at the far end of the table.
Perfect navy suit.
Calm expression.
The face of a man mourning a crisis he had created.
“Jason,” he began, “this is difficult for all of us.”
“I’m sure.”
“Given the allegations—”
“I’m taking temporary leave.”
The room went silent.
Daniel blinked.
That was the first victory.
He had expected resistance.
A dramatic fight.
Instead, I handed him exactly what he wanted.
Almost.
“I will transfer daily operational authority to an independent committee led by Claire Bennett.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
He wanted control himself.
“That isn’t consistent with governance rules.”
“It is under Article Twelve when the COO has a material conflict.”
His eyes sharpened.
“What conflict?”
“The federal subpoena arriving at your apartment right now.”
Claire had spent the night working with the SEC contact my father finally revealed.
Emma’s files provided enough evidence to open Daniel’s accounts.
Not enough to arrest him.
Enough to make him nervous.
He disconnected from the meeting twelve minutes later.
Then disappeared.
Exactly as my father predicted.
But this time, we were ready.
Marcus had placed trackers on Daniel’s company vehicles.
One headed toward Westchester.
Another remained parked downtown.
A third traveled north.
“Which one is he in?” Emma asked.
“None.”
Claire pointed at a fourth signal.
“His corporate phone just connected to Wi-Fi at Emerald Tower.”
Daniel was still inside the building.
“Why?”
Then I understood.
“He wants something from my office.”
The evidence.
Or what he believed was evidence.
We had deliberately leaked that Emma’s complete files were stored inside my private office safe.
They weren’t.
The safe contained nothing but blank drives.
Security cameras showed Daniel entering my floor through a maintenance hallway.
Marcus’s team moved into position.
Then every screen went black.
“He killed surveillance,” Claire said.
My phone rang.
Daniel.
I answered.
“You always were stubborn,” he said.
“Where are you?”
“Your office.”
“Looking for something?”
He laughed.
“Emma gave you the wrong drive.”
I looked at her.
Her face changed.
“What are you talking about?”
“The real ledger isn’t digital.”
Emma stood.
Daniel continued.
“She should remember. I watched her hide it.”
Emma suddenly went pale.
“The notebook.”
“What notebook?”
“The original audit notebook. I wrote account numbers by hand before I realized what I had found.”
“Where is it?”
She looked toward me.
“In your office.”
My blood ran cold.
“How?”
“Five months ago, Harbridge had a meeting there. I panicked when Daniel walked in.”
“Where did you hide it?”
“Behind the photograph.”
I almost laughed.
“There are no photographs in my office.”
“There was one.”
I remembered.
A framed picture of my father and me at the company’s opening ceremony.
I had shoved it into a cabinet years ago because I hated looking at it.
Daniel knew.
And apparently he had finally realized where Emma placed the notebook.
Marcus radioed from Emerald Tower.
“We’re outside Miller’s office.”
Then came a crash.
Static.
And silence.
Daniel spoke softly through my phone.
May you like
“You should have stayed alone, Jason.”
Then the line went dead.
