Chapter 4 - Echoes in the Boardroom“Are you sure he'll drink it?”
The speaker in the ceiling of the boardroom broadcasted Adrian’s voice crystal clear across the silent room.
“He has whiskey every night,” Isabella’s recorded voice replied, cold and unyielding.
Every single head in the boardroom snapped toward Isabella. Mouths dropped open. Whispers erupted like a sudden firestorm. Board members leaned away from her as if she carried a plague.
Adrian shot out of his chair so violently his leather executive chair slammed backward into the glass wall.
"Turn that off!" Adrian roared, his carefully constructed facade shattering completely. He lunged toward the control panel, but two corporate security guards—dispatched by Rosa and myself earlier that morning—materialized from the shadows, pinning his arms behind his back and forcing him back into his seat.
"Let me go, you idiots!" Adrian screamed, thrashing wildly. He glared at me with pure, unadulterated venom. "Nathan! You paranoid lunatic! This is a deepfake! You're framing us!"
I stood up slowly, buttoning my suit jacket. I walked around the table until I was standing right beside Isabella, who sat paralyzed, trembling like a leaf in a hurricane.
"A deepfake?" I asked softly, leaning down so only she could hear. "Is that what you want to tell the authorities, my love? Or should we play the part where you discuss bribing the federal regulators and selling off the hotel deeds to our offshore shell companies?"
Isabella looked up at me, tears finally spilling over her lashes. The mask of the calculating mastermind was completely gone, replaced by a cornered, desperate animal.
"Nathan... please," she whispered, her voice cracking. "It was his idea... Adrian forced me—"
"Save it for the judge," I whispered back, standing straight.
May you like
I looked across the room at the stunned, white-faced board members.
"Meeting adjourned," I announced coldly. "Security, call the FBI and the local police department. Tell them we have a confession recorded in 4K audio, complete with a trail of financial treason."
