Chapter 3 - THE VOTE WORTH FOUR BILLION DOLLARS
Marcus tried to leave before the ambulance arrived.
Daniel blocked the alley entrance long enough for two police vehicles to turn onto the street.
There was no dramatic struggle.
Marcus simply stopped smiling.
Victoria was taken to the hospital with a severe ankle sprain, a concussion, and several bruises. Daniel and Sofia followed long enough to give statements.
Before leaving, Sofia placed the red umbrella beside Victoria’s bed.
“You can give it back when your foot feels better.”
Victoria had received gifts worth millions.
None had felt more valuable.
Detective Lena Brooks arrived shortly after midnight.
The earpiece had connected to a temporary encrypted network used by a private security contractor called Northwatch Solutions.
Hayes Biotech had hired Northwatch two months earlier.
Marcus had recommended them.
The board vote scheduled for nine the next morning concerned an acquisition worth nearly four billion dollars.
Hayes Biotech had developed a diagnostic platform capable of detecting several aggressive cancers through a specialized blood analysis. A multinational pharmaceutical company wanted to purchase the technology and absorb Victoria’s company.
Marcus supported the sale.
Victoria opposed it.
The offered price looked enormous, but the contract would allow the buyer to dissolve several research divisions, terminate long-term patient-access commitments, and increase testing prices beyond what many hospitals could afford.
Victoria held enough voting control to block the transaction.
Unless she was absent.
Or declared medically incapable.
The stolen authorization token could be used to access a locked proxy system containing shareholder voting instructions.
“What happens if they obtain it?” Detective Brooks asked.
“They can’t directly vote as me.”
“But?”
“They could delete my opposition filings and make it appear I failed to submit them.”
Marcus did not need to forge Victoria’s vote.
He only needed her vote to disappear.
Brooks asked whether Marcus still held company authority.
“He left the board after our divorce.”
“Why?”
“Because he used confidential research information to make private investments.”
Victoria had stopped the matter internally to protect the company from scandal. Marcus resigned quietly and retained no official role.
But he still had allies.
At 1:40 a.m., Victoria’s chief legal officer, Naomi Reed, arrived with alarming news.
The board had received an emergency notice claiming Victoria suffered a psychiatric episode after dinner, fled into the city, and could not perform her duties.
The notice requested that interim authority transfer to Chief Operating Officer Adrian Cross.
Adrian supported the acquisition.
“Who submitted it?” Victoria asked.
Naomi placed a blurred copy on the bed tray.
The request carried a digital signature belonging to Victoria’s assistant, Elise Warren.
Elise had worked for her for nine years.
She knew Victoria’s routines, calendar, security codes, and travel plans.
She was also the person Marcus claimed had called him.
Victoria borrowed a hospital phone and called her.
Elise answered in tears.
“I’m sorry.”
“Did you tell Northwatch where I would exit?”
Silence.
“Elise.”
“They said no one would hurt you. They only needed you delayed until after the vote.”
“Who said that?”
“Adrian.”
Naomi went still.
Elise continued:
“He said the acquisition would save the company. He said you were sacrificing thousands of employees because you couldn’t let go of control.”
“And Marcus?”
“He arranged the men.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
The robbery had been designed as a temporary disappearance.
Take the phone.
Take the glasses so she could not move easily.
Injure her just enough to prevent her reaching the meeting.
Steal the token.
Then portray her distress as instability.
But Elise whispered one final detail.
“The men were told to leave you in the alley.”
“That already happened.”
“No,” Elise said. “They were told to leave you there until someone came to collect you.”
“Marcus?”
Another silence.
May you like
“No. Adrian.”
Cliffhanger: Marcus organized the attack, but Victoria’s own chief operating officer was supposed to retrieve her—and no one knew what he planned to do once she was inside his car.
