Chapter 9

At 11:10 p.m., the Kestrel boardroom smelled of rain and old wood. The storm had returned. Lightning lit the windows in white flashes as Helena called the meeting to order from the head of the table. Corinne and Daphne sat on either side of her. Vivian sat at the far end, pale but upright. Julian stood by the door, unable to sit, unable to leave.

Silas Voss was not a board member, but Lena Park had allowed him to remain as trustee of the Marcus Kestrel voting trust. Helena objected. Lena overruled her.

“This is a vote to remove Tamsin Kestrel from all offices and to void her fraudulent trust claim,” Helena began. “We have a resignation letter, a criminal complaint, and the unanimous support of the family.”

“There is no unanimous support,” Vivian said.

Helena froze. “Vivian, sit down.”

“I’m voting no.”

The room stirred. Helena recovered quickly. “Then we proceed by majority. Corinne. Daphne.”

Corinne studied the table. Daphne whispered, “Mom, the wire receipt-”

“There is no wire receipt,” Helena snapped.

I stood. “There is.”

I placed the notary log on the table. Then the forged resignation letter. Then the trust certificate with my father’s wax seal. Then the wire receipt from Black Tern Holdings to Helena’s personal trust.

“Julian Reyes signed out the notary stamp at 11:42 p.m. three weeks ago,” I said. “He has admitted he notarized a guarantee he never witnessed. The resignation letter is another forgery. The wire receipt shows sixty-eight million dollars from Black Tern to Helena’s account on the same date as the Port Blakely sale. And my father’s trust holds thirty-four percent of the voting shares, with a codicil suspending Helena’s voting rights upon proof of fraud.”

Helena’s face went white. “You forged that codicil.”

“We have the estate counsel’s authentication,” Lena said quietly. “And Margaret Doyle has agreed to release the charitable trust bank records to the trustee.”

Julian made a sound like a wounded animal. “She made me do it. She said she would destroy my family.”

“Shut up, Julian,” Helena said.

But it was too late. The board members looked at the wire receipt. They looked at the notary log. They looked at Julian’s shaking hands. Mr. Adair, the retired admiral, stood.

“I move to suspend Helena Kestrel as chairwoman pending investigation, to void the Port Blakely sale, and to name Tamsin Kestrel interim chair.”

“Seconded,” Vivian said.

The vote was not unanimous. Corinne abstained. Daphne voted with Helena through tears. But the majority passed. Helena’s gavel cracked against the table as she tried to call the meeting adjourned. No one obeyed.

At 11:58, two King County sheriff’s deputies entered the boardroom. They arrested Helena for fraud, forgery, and embezzlement. They arrested Julian as an accomplice. When Helena was led past me, she stopped.

“You think you’ve won,” she said. “But you still can’t save the company. I borrowed against everything. The debt will swallow you.”

I looked at my father’s trust certificate on the table. “Then I’ll do what you never did. I’ll tell the truth and ask people for help.”

She laughed, but it broke in the middle. The deputies took her out. The storm rattled the windows, and I sat at the head of the boardroom table for the first time in my life.