Chapter 7 - THE BEACH HOUSE
Guests were moved into the main beach house as rain struck the windows.
Marcus and Diane remained under guard.
Priscilla’s father suffered chest pain.
The private physician rushed forward with an injection.
Caroline recognized Dr. Kline.
She knocked the syringe from his hand.
Kline shouted, “He needs medication.”
Priscilla’s attorney checked the vial.
Not cardiac treatment.
A sedative.
William Adair was frightened, not dying.
The doctor intended to create incapacity inside the family.
If William and Priscilla were both sedated, Marcus could claim emergency authority through the marital proxy documents waiting for signature.
But the wedding had never legally occurred.
The signatures were incomplete.
Kline tried to flee.
Police detained him.
During interrogation, he admitted Diane controlled the plan.
Then Marcus corrected him.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
Marcus looked at his mother.
“You controlled the debt. I controlled the acquisition.”
Diane’s face changed.
For the first time, mother and son separated their crimes.
Marcus had altered the plan.
He intended to take Aegis and Adair Atlantic, then remove Diane too.
She was not his partner.
She was another temporary structure.
Diane looked almost impressed.
“You finally learned.”
Then Naomi Reed received an alert.
Aegis accounts were moving.
Someone had triggered remote transfers during the outage.
Caroline opened her phone.
Her original founder shares were being used as collateral.
Her biometric authorization appeared active.
Impossible.
Unless someone had copied it.
Marcus smiled.
“You brought the evidence exactly where I needed you.”
The phone Caroline carried had been compromised.
The wedding scene distracted her while malware activated through the acquisition file.
The red wine.
The fall.
The phone in the sand.
Marcus’s groomsman had picked it up before she did.
Only for seconds.
Enough.
May you like
The battle was not over.
It had moved into the accounts.
