Chapter 6 - The Boardroom of Liars
Voss Meridian occupied forty-three floors of a glass tower overlooking downtown.
Thea hated it immediately.
Not because it was ugly.
Because everything was designed to remind visitors that the people upstairs had more power than the people downstairs.
Marble.
Steel.
Private elevators.
Security gates.
Employees who lowered their voices when Lachlan passed.
He entered using his cane and dark glasses.
Thea walked beside him.
Her wedding ring was finally on her finger.
Not because she had suddenly embraced the marriage.
Because today it was armor.
The cameras gathered outside the lobby.
“Mrs. Voss!”
“Thea!”
“How is married life?”
“Was your mother hospitalized before the engagement?”
One reporter shouted, “Did Mr. Voss purchase your mother's surgery in exchange for the wedding?”
Thea stopped.
Lachlan's hand touched her arm.
Not controlling.
A warning.
She turned toward the cameras.
“My mother is a patient, not a headline.”
Then she walked inside.
Lachlan murmured, “Well done.”
“I wanted to hit him.”
“That would also have made headlines.”
“Next time.”
The boardroom was on the forty-third floor.
Fourteen people waited.
Thea recognized Julian immediately.
Early thirties.
Elegant.
Handsome in a polished way that felt almost rehearsed.
He approached Lachlan with a smile.
“Cousin.”
“Julian.”
“You survived marriage.”
“Barely twenty-four hours in.”
Julian laughed.
Then looked at Thea.
His attention lingered too long.
“So this is the famous bride.”
Thea held out her hand.
“So this is the famous cousin.”
His smile sharpened.
“I like her.”
Lachlan replied, “Most predators appreciate things that bite back.”
Several board members pretended not to hear.
Thea nearly smiled.
Then Graham Vale entered.
Her body reacted before her mind did.
Silver hair.
Tall.
Perfect navy suit.
Expensive watch.
Brown leather shoes.
Tiny silver bird.
He smiled.
“Lachlan.”
“Graham.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
Vale looked toward Thea.
For only a fraction of a second, his expression changed.
Recognition?
Concern?
Then it vanished.
“Mrs. Voss.”
“Mr. Vale.”
He shook her hand.
Warm.
Steady.
If this man had helped kill Elena, he was extraordinarily calm.
The meeting began.
Thea sat beside Lachlan.
Everyone behaved as though she were decorative.
That was useful.
People looked across Lachlan.
Rolled their eyes.
Passed notes.
Used silent gestures when discussing him.
Thea watched everything.
An hour into the meeting, a proposal appeared concerning the sale of three overseas subsidiaries.
Lachlan objected.
Julian leaned back and glanced at Vale.
Vale touched his watch.
Julian stopped arguing.
Tiny.
Almost meaningless.
Except Thea remembered Lachlan's habit of turning his own watch when he needed time.
Signals could look like habits.
She wrote on her notepad:
Vale controls Julian?
Lachlan couldn't read it while pretending blindness.
She touched his wrist twice.
Their prearranged signal.
Later.
The board discussion moved toward Lachlan's leadership.
A director named Patricia Wren cleared her throat.
“There remains concern regarding operational limitations.”
“Say blindness,” Lachlan replied.
Silence.
Patricia shifted.
“Your visual disability.”
“I have been blind for three years. Revenue increased twenty-one percent.”
Julian smiled.
“No one questions your intelligence.”
“That sentence is usually followed by someone questioning my intelligence.”
A few people laughed.
Vale did not.
Thea watched his shoes.
His right foot tapped once.
Then stopped.
At eleven, Lachlan said, “Before we continue, Sophie wanted to congratulate the team on the children's foundation project.”
A screen activated.
Pre-recorded video.
Sophie sat at a kitchen table coloring.
“Hi, Uncle Lachlan.”
Her smile was bright.
Normal.
“I made you a dragon because Aunt Thea said board meetings need more dragons.”
The board laughed.
Thea looked at Vale.
His smile remained.
But his hand tightened around his pen.
Sophie continued.
“And I remembered the lake house—”
Vale's pen snapped.
The room went silent.
On the recording, Sophie giggled.
“—because Uncle Emil said we're going there this summer.”
The video ended.
Thea kept her eyes on Vale.
He looked down at the broken pen.
“Cheap plastic.”
It wasn't.
Montblanc.
Probably more expensive than Thea's car.
Julian looked at him.
A flash passed between them.
Thea caught it.
So did Lachlan, perhaps through sound or instinct.
The meeting continued.
Afterward, Julian cornered Thea near the elevators.
“Quite a performance.”
“What?”
“The happy family.”
She smiled politely.
“I wasn't aware happiness required acting lessons.”
“In this family, everything does.”
That interested her.
“You don't like Lachlan much.”
“I love my cousin.”
“That wasn't what I said.”
Julian laughed.
“You really are young.”
“And you're really avoiding the question.”
His smile faded slightly.
“Be careful in this family.”
“Is that advice?”
“A kindness.”
“From you?”
He leaned closer.
“Lachlan has always been good at making people believe he's the victim.”
Thea's spine stiffened.
“He survived an accident that killed his sister.”
“Did he tell you that's the whole story?”
Her heartbeat changed.
“What else is there?”
Julian smiled again.
“You should ask why Elena called him that night.”
“He told me.”
“Did he tell you what they argued about first?”
The elevator opened.
Julian stepped inside.
“Wait.”
He held the door.
“Welcome to the family, Thea.”
Then it closed.
She found Lachlan waiting in his office.
He removed his glasses as soon as Marcus locked the door.
“What happened?”
“Vale broke his pen when Sophie said lake house.”
“I heard.”
“And he signals Julian with his watch.”
“I suspected.”
“Julian says you and Elena argued the night she died.”
Lachlan went still.
There.
Another secret.
Thea felt anger rise.
“You promised.”
“I did.”
“So?”
“Yes.”
“You argued.”
“Yes.”
“About what?”
Lachlan walked to the window.
“Elena wanted me to stop an acquisition.”
“Why?”
“She believed money was being hidden inside it.”
“And you didn't believe her.”
“No.”
“What did you say?”
His silence answered before his voice did.
“I told her if she couldn't separate family paranoia from corporate analysis, she should resign from the audit committee.”
Thea winced.
“And then she died.”
“Three hours later.”
He stared over the city.
“I have replayed that conversation every night for three years.”
The anger left her.
Not all of it.
Enough.
“She called you afterward.”
“Yes.”
“To say she'd found proof.”
“Yes.”
“And you told her to meet you the next morning.”
“Yes.”
Thea stood beside him.
“You couldn't know.”
“I should have listened.”
“Maybe.”
He looked at her.
That wasn't the comfort people usually offered.
She continued.
“But guilt isn't evidence.”
“No.”
“And punishing yourself won't make Sophie safer.”
“No.”
“You agree with me a lot when you're miserable.”
“It's efficient.”
A knock sounded.
Marcus entered without waiting.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Vale left the building.”
“So?”
“He canceled his afternoon meetings.”
“Where did he go?”
“We lost him in the parking garage.”
Lachlan cursed.
Marcus placed a tablet on the desk.
“There's more.”
Security footage showed Vale entering his car.
Five minutes later, another vehicle followed.
Registered owner:
Dr. Adrian Shaw.
Thea stared.
“He's alive.”
“Maybe.”
“Can you track the car?”
“Already doing it.”
A dot appeared on the city map.
Moving north.
Lachlan grabbed his coat.
Marcus blocked him.
“No.”
“Move.”
“You're the target.”
“Adrian risked his life to restore my sight.”
“And rushing into a trap won't repay him.”
Thea looked at the map.
The vehicle was heading toward the outskirts.
Toward a lake.
“Your lake house,” she said.
Everyone turned.
The route confirmed it.
Lachlan's face hardened.
“Call police.”
Marcus did.
But ten minutes later, the tracking device stopped transmitting.
Its final location appeared on a rural road three miles from Voss Lake.
Thea looked at Lachlan.
“You're going.”
“Yes.”
“So am I.”
“No.”
She picked up her bag.
“This argument is getting repetitive.”
“Thea.”
“Your sister went to that lake house before she died. Sophie remembers Vale there. Adrian's car is driving toward it.”
She moved closer.
“And somebody threatened my mother.”
He knew he couldn't stop her without breaking every promise he had made.
“Stay behind me.”
“No.”
“What?”
“If people think you're blind, you're the one they expect to be vulnerable.”
She took his dark glasses from the desk and placed them in his hand.
“So tonight, maybe I go first.”
Lachlan stared at her.
Something in his expression shifted.
Fear.
Admiration.
Something more dangerous than either.
He put on the glasses.
They left.
Forty minutes later, their SUV turned onto the private road leading toward Voss Lake.
Trees closed around them.
No streetlights.
No houses.
Then Marcus, driving ahead, slammed on the brakes.
A car blocked the road.
Its driver's door stood open.
Adrian Shaw's car.
Empty.
Thea got out.
“Stay near the vehicle,” Marcus ordered.
They searched.
No Adrian.
No Vale.
Then Lachlan heard something.
“Wait.”
Everyone became silent.
From somewhere beyond the trees came a faint electronic ringing.
A phone.
Marcus followed the sound.
They found it beside the lake.
Adrian's phone.
On the screen was a scheduled message.
Addressed to Lachlan.
Only one sentence.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, I FINALLY REMEMBERED WHO PAID ME TO KEEP YOU BLIND.
And attached beneath it was a photograph.
Thea looked.
Lachlan stopped breathing.
Because the person in the photograph wasn't Graham Vale.
It was Astrid Voss.
May you like
Lachlan's grandmother.
---
