Chapter 8 - The Boardroom Revolt
The board meeting lasted four hours.
Gavin entered as chief executive.
He left on administrative leave.
Mason was terminated.
An independent committee assumed oversight of the investigation.
Charlotte resigned before she could be dismissed.
Outside the building, cameras waited.
Gavin used the underground garage.
His empire had not disappeared.
But his certainty had.
That evening, he sat alone in the mansion.
Sabrina’s photographs were gone.
The silence was unbearable.
He found the broken wedding frame Bridget had thrown away.
For reasons he could not explain, he pulled it from the trash.
The glass cut his finger.
He barely noticed.
His phone rang.
Bridget.
“Gavin, you need to fight.”
“Fight who?”
“Sabrina. Crestview. Everyone.”
Gavin stared at the photograph.
“Did Mason tell you about the accounting?”
Silence.
“Bridget?”
“He said it was normal.”
“Did you know about the liabilities he threatened Sabrina with?”
Another silence.
Gavin closed his eyes.
“How much did you know?”
“I was protecting you.”
“No.”
He looked at the ruined photograph.
“You were protecting the life you had because of me.”
He ended the call.
For once, Gavin was beginning to see the pattern.
Everyone around him had benefited from his arrogance.
Mason exploited it.
Charlotte flattered it.
Bridget defended it.
But Gavin had chosen it.
Nobody had forced him to raise the belt.
Nobody had forced him to threaten Sabrina.
That truth was the hardest one.
Meanwhile, Sabrina received an envelope.
No return address.
Inside was a photograph.
Gavin and Mason.
A handwritten note read:
Mason wasn't working alone. Find account 7714.
Sabrina immediately called Claire.
“Don't touch anything else,” Claire said.
“Why?”
“Because whoever sent it knows details that aren't public.”
“Can Crestview trace the account?”
“We'll find out.”
They did.
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Account 7714 belonged to a holding structure linked indirectly to Bridget.
And the money flowing through it opened an entirely new chapter in the investigation.
