Chapter 7 - The Other Margaret
Nobody moved.
Ethan stared at the message while the security guards waited for instructions.
Margaret's face had gone white.
"Turn that screen off," she ordered.
Chad laughed bitterly.
"Now you want the screen turned off?"
"This is a manipulation."
"Then explain the account."
"I already told you. I didn't authorize those transfers."
Daniel stood beside the boardroom table, gripping the back of a chair.
"Ethan, the ledger can be fabricated. We need to verify the bank records independently."
Ethan looked at his mother.
"Who are you protecting?"
Margaret's eyes glistened.
"My son."
"Which one?"
The question cut through the room.
She approached him slowly, stopping beyond the reach of his wheelchair.
"Michael discovered the transfers shortly before his disappearance. He believed someone was using the foundation to finance a private security network. Your father knew about it, too."
"Then why did Dad do nothing?"
"Because the network was created to protect this family."
"From whom?"
Margaret looked toward the screen.
"From the people who once owned this company before the Vances did."
Chad's expression changed.
"Margaret, stop."
She ignored him.
"Your grandfather didn't build Vance Group from nothing. He took it over after a bitter corporate battle. Several investors lost their shares, their positions, and their fortunes. Some of them spent decades trying to reclaim what they believed had been stolen."
Daniel slowly lowered himself into a chair.
"And the foundation transfers?"
"Payments to keep certain people quiet. Compensation for agreements your grandfather made and your father continued."
Ethan looked at the ledger.
"How much?"
"Enough to destroy the company if every payment became public."
Chad stepped forward.
"Which is why Ethan must not gain control of the records."
Ethan stared at him.
"You mean the records that might prove you were part of the theft?"
Chad's jaw tightened.
"I mean the records that will expose everyone in this room."
A sound came from the corridor.
Then another.
The guards at the door suddenly stepped aside as a gray-haired woman entered the boardroom.
She was wearing a black dress and carrying a leather folder.
Ethan stared at her.
She looked exactly like his mother.
But Margaret stood beside him.
For the first time in his life, Ethan saw two women with the same face.
The newcomer smiled sadly.
"Hello, Ethan."
Margaret backed away.
"No."
The newcomer approached the table.
"You're older than I expected."
Ethan felt sick.
"Who are you?"
The woman opened the leather folder and removed an old photograph.
It showed two identical little girls standing beside Richard Vance.
One held a teddy bear.
The other held a small wooden horse.
On the back were the words Margaret and Catherine, Briarwood, 1978.
The newcomer placed the photograph on the table.
"My name is Catherine Vance," she said. "Margaret's twin sister."
Margaret looked as though she had been struck.
"You were never supposed to come back."
Catherine's expression hardened.
"And you were never supposed to steal my life."
The boardroom erupted in overlapping questions.
Ethan could hear only his own heartbeat.
"Explain," he demanded.
Catherine took a breath.
"Your father had an affair with our mother before he married Margaret. I was born first. Margaret was raised as Richard's daughter, and I was sent away to live with relatives."
Margaret shook her head.
"That's not the whole story."
"No," Catherine replied. "It isn't. Richard discovered the truth years later. He brought me back into the family, but Margaret convinced him to keep my identity secret because the inheritance was already complicated."
Ethan looked between them.
"Which one of you signed the death certificate?"
Neither answered.
He wheeled closer.
"Which one of you was buried?"
Margaret's lips trembled.
"I was."
Catherine closed her eyes.
"And I used her identity afterward."
Ethan felt the floor disappear beneath him.
Catherine continued.
"I didn't arrange your accident. I didn't create those accounts. I came back because Michael asked me to."
"Michael is dead."
Catherine looked toward him.
"Is he?"
The question silenced the room.
She opened the leather folder and withdrew a document containing a photograph of a man in a hospital bed.
The date was three years earlier.
The man had Michael's face.
Ethan gripped his wheels.
"Where is he?"
Catherine looked at Margaret.
"That's something your mother needs to tell you."
Margaret covered her mouth.
Before she could speak, every phone in the room began vibrating simultaneously.
A message appeared on each screen.
THE BOARD HAS BEEN COMPROMISED.
May you like
THE BUILDING IS UNDER LOCKDOWN.
AND ONE OF YOU HAS ALREADY BEEN PAID TO KILL ETHAN VANCE.
