Chapter 10 - THE BOARDROOM GHOSTVictor returned to Blackwood Tower under heavy security.
Every floor was evacuated.
The boardroom sat on the top level.
The doors were locked.
Marcus opened them.
Nobody was inside.
Except Amelia.
She stood near the windows.
Victor stopped.
Twenty years disappeared.
She looked older.
Scarred.
But alive.
“Dad.”
Victor couldn't move.
Then he crossed the room and embraced her.
Amelia cried into his shoulder.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I wanted you to think that.”
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
Victor pulled away.
“Who is behind this?”
Amelia looked toward the door.
“Your board.”
Victor frowned.
“My board?”
“They've been draining the company for years.”
“Richard?”
“No.”
“Evelyn?”
“Not alone.”
Amelia placed a folder on the table.
Inside were names.
Executives.
Lawyers.
Politicians.
Doctors.
Bankers.
All connected through shell companies.
Victor's empire had been hollowed out from within.
Billions were missing.
But there was something worse.
A second document.
A legal transfer.
Blackwood Global was scheduled to transfer ninety percent of its voting shares to a private trust.
The beneficiary was Chloe.
Victor stared.
“Why would they transfer the company to a child?”
Amelia looked at him.
“Because they can't control you.”
Victor understood.
“They want to control her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Chloe is the key.”
“To what?”
Amelia hesitated.
“The Blackwood inheritance.”
Victor frowned.
“What inheritance?”
Amelia took a deep breath.
“Not money.”
She opened another file.
Inside was a genetic map.
“This family has a rare mutation.”
Victor stared at it.
“What does it do?”
“Enhanced auditory processing.”
Victor looked at Chloe.
“That doesn't explain billions of dollars.”
“No.”
Amelia pointed at the map.
“It does when the mutation allows children to identify encoded information through sound.”
Victor remembered the song.
The twelve sections.
The hidden messages.
Chloe could hear things others couldn't.
Amelia said:
“My mother discovered it.”
Victor's face went pale.
“She created the company to monetize it.”
Amelia shook her head.
“She created something bigger.”
“What?”
“A system for encoding information into music.”
Victor stared.
“Financial codes.”
“Political secrets.”
“Passwords.”
“Names.”
“Everything.”
Amelia's voice trembled.
“And your family has been using music to hide crimes for generations.”
Victor looked toward Chloe.
“So the song…”
“Contains proof.”
“Proof of what?”
Amelia looked at the clock.
“Everything.”
Then the lights went out.
The boardroom windows shattered.
A bullet struck the table.
Everyone dropped.
Victor looked up.
Across the building, on another rooftop, a figure stood with a rifle.
Amelia whispered:
“They found me.”
Victor stared through the shattered window.
The assassin removed his mask.
Victor recognized the face.
Richard.
But Richard wasn't aiming at Amelia.
May you like
He was aiming at Chloe.
Victor screamed her name.
