“Mr. Hayes is already on his way up with the compliance team.”

“He has the original documents from the hospital in Connecticut.”

“The ones you paid to have filed under a corporate shell name.”

Richard’s face lost all its remaining color.

The yellow light from the vault door cast long, sick-looking shadows across his forehead.

“You think the board will side with a child?” Richard sneered.

He leaned over the table, his palms flat on the steel.

“A four-month-old baby cannot run a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, Nathan.”

“The market will crash the moment this story hits the wire.”

“The board will do what is necessary to protect the stock price.”

“They will protect the brand,” Richard said.

He was breathing heavily now, his expensive wool suit damp at the armpits.

“The brand is already damaged, Richard,” Vance’s voice came through the speaker again.

“The legal committee is convening right now.”

“We cannot have a chairman facing kidnapping and fraud charges.”

“It would destroy our institutional backing within forty-eight hours.”

“I have not been charged with anything,” Richard snapped.

“You will be,” Nathan said.