Chapter 5 - The Price of Control
The footage was worse than Michael expected.
The balcony camera showed Diane wrenching Lily from Emma’s arms.
It showed Emma begging.
It showed Diane walking deliberately toward the railing.
Then the camera angle lost Lily behind a stone column.
Three seconds later, Emma screamed.
A second camera in the foyer captured Lily falling and Michael catching her.
No accident.
No misunderstanding.
Detective Morales watched the files twice.
“That changes the case.”
Michael looked at Emma. “She’s not coming near us again.”
But Diane made bail before prosecutors could upgrade the charges.
By noon, her attorneys had secured a temporary order barring both sides from discussing the incident publicly.
By afternoon, Bennett Group’s board called an emergency meeting.
Michael entered the conference room with Emma, Rachel Sloan, and two outside auditors.
Caleb Bennett was already there.
He stood immediately.
“Mike, thank God. I’ve been trying to reach you.”
Michael stared at him.
“Did you erase my security footage?”
Caleb’s expression collapsed. “What?”
“Answer me.”
“No.”
“Your credentials were used.”
“Then someone used them.”
“Who?”
Caleb looked toward the board members.
Diane entered through the opposite door.
Emma’s entire body tightened.
Diane wore navy blue and a small bandage on her wrist from the arrest.
“You brought her here?” Michael demanded.
Board chairman Victor Lang stood. “Diane remains interim voting controller until the trust issue is adjudicated.”
Rachel dropped a thick binder on the table.
“No, she doesn’t.”
Diane smiled. “Rachel, still chasing ghosts?”
Rachel opened to the trust amendment.
“The transfer was automatic ten months ago. Every vote Diane cast after Lily’s birth may be invalid.”
The room erupted.
Diane ignored them.
She looked at Emma.
“You think this makes you powerful?”
Emma stood. “No. My daughter being alive makes me powerful.”
Diane’s eyes sharpened.
Michael placed the forensic audit request on the table.
“We start today.”
Caleb’s face changed.
Just a flicker.
But Emma saw it.
Then one of the outside auditors opened his laptop.
“There’s an immediate problem.”
“What?” Michael asked.
“The twenty-eight million in suspicious transfers isn’t the full number.”
“How much?”
The auditor turned the screen.
“Forty-six million, eight hundred thousand.”
May you like
Silence.
“And,” he added, “eleven million of it went to a company registered to Caleb Bennett.”
