Chapter 18 - The Victory That Wasn’t
The headlines said we had won.
Marcus Harrington arrested.
Solmere control restored to Charlotte Vale.
Markets stabilized.
Employees returned to work.
Celeste issued a public apology and resigned from every family foundation.
Julian requested a meeting.
I refused three times.
On the fourth, Samuel told me to go.
Julian looked twenty years older.
“Adrian contacted me.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“What does he want?”
“The company.”
I almost laughed.
“He lost.”
“No.”
Julian shook his head.
“He has something your mother recorded.”
My smile disappeared.
“What?”
“He says it proves Marcus wasn’t the only person involved.”
Adrian demanded I attend the Solmere anniversary gala.
Alone.
He promised to return the phone.
Samuel wanted federal agents everywhere.
I agreed.
But Adrian had spent fifteen years building Solmere’s internal security systems.
If anyone knew how to disappear inside my hotels, it was him.
The gala began at eight.
May you like
At 8:43, every screen in the ballroom went black.
Then my mother appeared.
