Grant’s face hardened.
“No.
Do not recognize that notice.
I don’t care who signed it.”
A pause.
“I am the controlling shareholder.”
Another pause.
Grant looked down at the folder.
His voice dropped.
“What do you mean, the voting register changed?”
The guests exchanged glances.
Grant turned away from us, pressing a finger into his other ear.
“You reverse it.
Right now.”
The answer was long enough for his shoulders to become rigid.
He ended the call without saying goodbye.
One of the board members near the staircase stepped forward.
“Grant, we received the certification and the trustee instruction.
Counsel confirmed the suspension is effective immediately.”
Grant stared at him.
“You work for me.”
“I work for the company.”
Grant’s hand tightened around the phone.
The distinction was one he had ignored for years.
The woman in red tried to leave again.
This time Grant caught her wrist.
He did not hurt her, but the desperation in the gesture destroyed the illusion that he controlled the room.
“Tell them,” he said.
Her eyes widened.
“Tell them what?”
“That the trips were business.”
She looked at the guests, then at the evidence inside the folder.
“Grant, let go of me.”
“Tell them.”
“I never said they were business.”
A murmur moved through the ballroom.
Grant released her as though she had burned him.
She rubbed her wrist and stepped away.
He turned on me.
“You planned this.”
“I prepared for it.”
“You went through my office.
You stole private records.”
“The records came from accounts controlled by the settlement.
As beneficiary and acting trustee, I was entitled to review them.”
“You are not a trustee.”
“I became acting trustee at four o’clock this afternoon, when the independent trustee acknowledged your suspension.”
Grant checked the time.
It was 4:17.
The last champagne glasses had not yet been emptied.
He opened the folder once more, searching for a flaw.
Grant had always believed that every agreement contained an escape route reserved for the most powerful person in the room.
Elaine had warned me that he would look for one.
There was none.
The final pages contained the trustee acceptance, the independent counsel’s certification, the updated voting register, and written instructions calling an emergency board meeting that evening.
Grant’s gaze landed on Elaine’s signature.
