Chapter 12 - The New CEO
Nathan stepped away from the table as if the title itself might burn him.
“No.”
Asher remained on the phone.
“What was the vote?”
“Nine to three.”
“Who called the meeting?”
“The notice came from Chairwoman Emeritus Vivienne Lennox.”
“She says she didn’t send it.”
The attorney hesitated.
“We verified her digital signature.”
Asher looked at Daniel.
“Someone has compromised internal credentials.”
Nathan shook his head.
“I’m not taking the job.”
The attorney heard him.
“Mr. Cole, the appointment is already effective.”
“I decline.”
“You can resign, but until the board appoints another interim executive—”
Nathan hung up Asher’s phone.
Everyone looked at him.
“What?”
Asher almost smiled.
Nathan continued.
“I’m not discussing corporate procedure while someone is kidnapping babies and stealing identities.”
Vivienne looked at him carefully.
“Your refusal won’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
Asher studied his friend.
Nathan seemed furious.
If it was an act, it was good.
Very good.
Laney looked at Asher.
“You need to go to the company.”
“No.”
She blinked.
“No?”
“They want me at the company.”
Nathan nodded slowly.
“Asher’s right.”
Vivienne frowned.
“Explain.”
“This board coup happened exactly when Elias was taken,” Nathan said. “Someone wanted Asher distracted, discredited, and removed.”
Charles added, “And the emergency petition creates a legal narrative that he is unstable.”
Laney looked worried.
“For custody too?”
Everyone went quiet.
Charles nodded.
“Yes.”
Asher’s face hardened.
“If someone wants the twins, making me legally incompetent helps.”
Laney’s eyes filled with anger.
“Then what about me?”
Charles hesitated.
“You disappeared for seven months.”
She understood.
“They can call me unstable too.”
“Potentially.”
Asher looked toward his children.
A full strategy was emerging.
Discredit him.
Discredit Laney.
Control the heirs.
Control the trust.
Control the archive.
“Nathan.”
“Yes?”
“Accept the CEO role.”
Nathan stared.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Asher—”
“Accept.”
Vivienne understood first.
“You want someone inside.”
Asher nodded.
“If Nathan is innocent, he becomes our eyes.”
“And if he isn’t?” Laney asked.
Asher looked at Nathan.
“Then I keep my enemy close.”
Nathan gave a humorless laugh.
“Comforting.”
“You wanted honesty.”
Nathan nodded.
“Fine.”
He called general counsel.
“I accept the temporary appointment.”
Asher watched his friend make the call.
When it ended, Nathan looked almost physically ill.
“Congratulations,” Asher said.
“Shut up.”
For the first time that morning, Malik laughed from the bed.
Everyone turned.
He had been listening.
Nathan crossed to him.
“You think this is funny?”
Malik grinned.
“You’re Dad’s boss now.”
Nathan looked at Asher.
“That is horrifying.”
Even Asher smiled.
The moment lasted only seconds.
Then Daniel entered.
“We traced the fake board documents.”
“Where?”
“Submitted through Lennox Global servers.”
Nathan frowned.
“Which terminal?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Your office.”
Silence.
Nathan’s smile vanished.
“I haven’t been there since yesterday.”
“Anyone with access?”
“My assistant. IT. Security.”
Asher asked, “Cameras?”
“Checking.”
Daniel handed Nathan a tablet.
Video showed someone entering his office at 3:14 a.m.
Face hidden by a hood.
The person knew the keypad code.
Walked directly to Nathan’s terminal.
Inserted a device.
Left after six minutes.
Nathan frowned.
“Freeze.”
Daniel paused.
“Zoom on the hand.”
The image sharpened.
A gold ring.
Vivienne gasped.
Asher looked at her.
“What?”
“That ring belonged to Richard.”
Asher stared.
The figure wore his father’s signet ring.
Nathan whispered.
“But Richard is dead.”
Asher looked at Daniel.
“Find every person who had access to his belongings after his death.”
Daniel nodded.
“Henry?”
“Start there.”
Nathan checked his new executive email.
Hundreds of messages were already arriving.
Then he froze.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward Asher.
A message had been sent from Richard Lennox’s old corporate address.
Subject:
WELCOME BACK, SON.
Asher opened it.
One line.
YOU HAVE 48 HOURS TO RETURN WHAT YOUR FATHER STOLE.
Below it was an address.
No name.
Laney read over his shoulder.
“That address…”
“What?”
“It’s the apartment where I hid.”
Asher stared.
“Why would they send us there?”
Laney’s face tightened.
“Because something is still inside.”
They traveled to Queens under heavy security.
Aunt Rosa had been moved to a safe location months earlier.
The apartment had remained mostly untouched.
Laney unlocked the door.
Dust covered the furniture.
Asher noticed scratches near the kitchen floor.
“What?”
Laney pointed.
“Those weren’t there.”
Daniel inspected.
“Someone moved the refrigerator.”
Behind it was a section of wall slightly different in color.
They opened it.
Inside was a narrow compartment.
A metal box.
Laney stared.
“I never knew that was there.”
Asher opened it.
Inside were documents.
Old photographs.
Passports.
And a video camera.
Daniel checked the camera.
“Battery’s dead.”
They connected it to power.
One video file.
Dated eight months earlier.
Laney looked at Asher.
“The week before I disappeared.”
They played it.
Richard Lennox appeared on screen.
Alive.
Sitting in this apartment.
Laney covered her mouth.
Richard looked into the camera.
“If you are watching this, then Thomas has betrayed me.”
Asher’s pulse jumped.
Everyone fell silent.
Richard continued.
“Thomas is Meridian.”
Daniel whispered a curse.
“He has spent thirty years rewriting every side of this family against the other.”
Richard coughed.
“He killed Gabriel.”
Charles staggered backward.
Richard continued.
“He arranged the crash meant for me. When I survived, he turned my survival into another weapon.”
Asher felt sick.
“He wants the archive because it contains records proving his organization infiltrated Lennox Global, government contracts, and several international companies.”
Nathan whispered.
“Why?”
Richard answered as if hearing him.
“Money was never Thomas’s goal. He wants immunity through power.”
The video flickered.
Then Richard leaned toward the camera.
“Asher, if you are watching, there is something else you need to know.”
Asher held his breath.
“Thomas has one advantage none of us understood.”
Richard looked broken.
“He is not an employee.”
Pause.
“He is Henry Lennox’s eldest son.”
Vivienne sat hard in a chair.
“No.”
Richard continued.
“Born before Henry married my mother. Hidden because his existence threatened the family succession.”
Asher looked at Vivienne.
She was shaking.
Richard’s final words filled the room.
“Thomas is the first Lennox heir.”
The video ended.
Nobody moved.
Then the apartment door clicked shut behind them.
Daniel spun.
Smoke began pouring beneath the door.
Nathan grabbed Malik—wait, Malik should not be here. No, children at hospital. Correct. Need revise in prose not possible. We can continue and not mention Malik. We already said traveled maybe Laney, Asher, Daniel, Nathan. Fine.
Daniel tried the door.
Locked electronically.
“Asher!”
Flames appeared in the hallway beyond the frosted glass.
Nathan looked around.
“No fire escape.”
Laney stared at the windows.
Fourth floor.
Then Asher remembered Hawthorne Hall.
Another fire.
Another hidden Lennox heir.
The same weapon.
Daniel smashed the window with a chair.
“Everyone out!”
A fire escape ladder sat just below.
Laney climbed first.
Then Nathan.
Daniel handed Asher the box.
“Go!”
Asher climbed through the window as flames entered the kitchen.
From the alley below, Laney shouted.
“Asher!”
He descended.
Seconds later, the apartment erupted in fire.
They reached the ground.
Fire alarms screamed.
Sirens approached.
Asher looked up at the burning apartment.
On the roof of the building across the street stood an old man with a cane.
Thomas Vale.
Watching.
He lifted one hand.
Not waving.
May you like
Saluting.
Then disappeared.
