Chapter 9 - The Storm BreaksInside the ballroom, forty prominent shareholders, board members, and city officials sat around a massive oval table. At the head of the table stood Graham Ellison, holding a pen over a thick stack of legal documents.
"And with Miss Bowmont's unfortunate absence," Graham announced smoothly to the room, "her proxy vote automatically reverts to—"
"My proxy vote stays with me, Graham," Clare's voice rang out like a whip, echoing off the high vaulted ceilings.
The entire room turned in shock. Gasps erupted across the audience.
Graham froze, his face turning an ash-gray color as he looked up to see Clare walking down the center aisle, her posture immaculate, her eyes burning with pure cold fire. Behind her walked two federal agents in dark coats, accompanied by Mateo and myself.
"Clare?" Graham stammered, trying desperately to regain his composure. "You... you were kidnapped... you're traumatized—"
"I was never kidnapped, Graham," Clare declared, stopping ten feet from the podium. "I was hiding from the man who tried to murder me in Newport Harbor four nights ago."
"That's absurd!" Graham yelled, looking around at the board members. "She's delusional!"
"Is it absurd, Graham?" Clare asked calmly, tapping her tablet to sync with the ballroom's projection screen. "Then perhaps you can explain these wire transfers from your Panama account to the chemical supplier in Zurich who sold you the arsenic found in my father's system."
The screen lit up with bank records, toxicological evidence, and encrypted text messages detailing Graham's plan to eliminate both her and her father.
The board members stood up in outrage. Graham looked frantically toward the side exits, but the federal agents moved in swiftly, grabbing his arms and forcing them behind his back.
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As the handcuffs clicked shut around his wrists, Graham glared at me with pure venom. "You..." he hissed. "You're just a filthy dock mechanic!"
I walked up to him, leaning in close so only he could hear. "I'm the mechanic who fixed the mess you made. Enjoy prison, Graham."
