Chapter Twenty-Eight — The Board Votes Against Me

For several seconds, I simply stared at Marcus.

“Removing me as successor?”

He nodded.

“The emergency meeting begins in forty minutes.”

Rage settled through me with surprising calm.

Perhaps I had already reached the limit of what one night could do to a person. My medication had been sabotaged, a man had died beneath my building, my physician had disappeared, my parents had admitted that my entire existence was connected to a reproductive experiment, and now someone had decided that the appropriate conclusion was to steal my company before sunrise.

Ronan looked at Marcus.

“Who called the vote?”

“Victor Vale.”

Of course.

I almost smiled.

My uncle had spent years waiting for the smallest crack in my armor. Tonight, someone had handed him an entire fracture.

“What grounds?”

Marcus checked his phone.

“Medical instability, failure to disclose a condition affecting executive performance, unauthorized removal of company information, and potential reputational risk.”

The words hit precisely where they were intended.

Medical instability.

They did not know I was an Omega.

Not yet.

But someone had given Victor enough information to build a weapon without revealing the secret itself.

Cassian folded his arms.

“This is coordinated.”

I looked at him.

“You sound certain.”

“Because Elias’s shell companies acquired another one point four percent of Vale shares thirty minutes ago.”

My pulse changed.

“During the crisis?”

“Yes.”

Ronan’s expression darkened.

“They created instability, then bought into the fall.”

Cassian nodded.

“Which means the board vote may not be about removing Adrian permanently.”

I understood before he finished.

“They want the stock to drop.”

“Yes.”

“And then they accumulate more.”

“Exactly.”

I turned toward Marcus.

“Get me into the meeting.”

He hesitated.

“Your executive access is suspended.”

“I did not ask whether the building likes me today.”

“The vote is being held virtually as well.”

“Good.”

Ronan stepped closer.

“You are in no condition for a board fight.”

I looked at him.

“That sentence sounds suspiciously like Victor’s argument.”

His jaw tightened.

“You know that is not what I mean.”

“Then choose different words.”

“I mean your heat is unstable, Cradle is manipulating your physiology, and six armed men just walked into my home.”

“All true.”

“And you still plan to argue corporate governance for the next hour?”

“Yes.”

Cassian laughed softly.

Ronan looked at him.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You have an expression.”

“I am simply beginning to understand why Cradle struggled to control him.”

I ignored both of them.

“Marcus, connect me.”

He opened his laptop.

“The meeting link activates in twenty-two minutes.”

“Then we use those twenty-two minutes.”

“For what?”

“Finding out who Victor thinks he has.”

Marcus understood immediately.

“The votes.”

“Yes.”

Vale Dominion’s board had eleven voting members.

My father controlled his own vote.

Victor controlled one.

Three usually followed whichever side appeared stronger.

Two disliked me personally but respected profit.

The remaining four had supported my succession for years.

At least, they had yesterday.

“Who has confirmed attendance?”

Marcus began reading names.

Every one of them.

I listened carefully.

“Victor would not call this unless he believed he had six.”

Ronan walked toward the desk.

“Can he count your father?”

“No.”

“Why?”

I looked at him.

“Because Theodore would burn the company before allowing Victor to inherit it.”

Cassian’s expression shifted.

“That confidence may be misplaced tonight.”

I turned.

“Meaning?”

He unlocked his phone and placed it on the desk.

Another transaction report.

A shell company.

Another purchase.

Then a name attached to an advisory authorization.

THEODORE VALE.

My stomach tightened.

“No.”

Cassian said nothing.

I picked up the phone.

The document showed my father authorizing contact between Vale’s treasury department and one of the investment entities Cassian claimed was linked to Elias Ashcroft.

Ronan read it.

“When?”

“Six months ago,” Cassian said.

I looked at him.

“You expect me to believe my father helped Elias acquire Vale stock?”

“I expect you to ask him.”

“He told me Elias was part of the program.”

“He never told you Elias was alive.”

That was true.

Too much was true tonight.

Marcus’s laptop chimed.

“Meeting room is opening early.”

I straightened.

“Connect.”

Ronan caught my wrist.

I looked down at his hand.

Then at him.

“What?”

His voice lowered.

“Your scent.”

I had stopped noticing it.

That was dangerous.

Heat had thickened beneath my skin again, and the stress of the vote was making it worse.

“If you join a video call like this, they cannot smell me.”

“No. But they can see you.”

I looked toward the dark reflection in the window.

My face was pale.

My hair had dried badly from the rain.

My shirt collar was open.

I looked nothing like the Adrian Vale who had walked into the gala hours ago.

That version of me had believed he understood his enemies.

I buttoned my collar.

Straightened my jacket.

Then looked at Ronan.

“Help me.”

His eyebrows lifted.

“With what?”

“Your scent.”

Silence.

Cassian looked away with suspicious speed.

Marcus suddenly became very interested in his laptop.

Ronan’s gaze held mine.

“You want me close.”

“For the meeting.”

“Only the meeting?”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Do not ruin the moment.”

His mouth curved.

Then he stepped behind me.

Close enough that his Alpha scent covered mine.

Not touching.

I hated how quickly my body relaxed.

I hated even more that part of me had started distinguishing between Cradle forcing proximity and me choosing it.

Marcus turned the laptop toward me.

Board members appeared one by one.

Victor.

My father.

Seven directors.

Then the rest.

Victor saw me.

His expression sharpened.

“Adrian. I did not expect you to attend.”

“That explains why you scheduled the meeting while trying to remove me.”

“This is not personal.”

I smiled.

“Then you have become boring.”

Several directors shifted.

My father said nothing.

Victor continued.

“We have serious concerns regarding your capacity to continue as designated successor.”

“Based on?”

“Your behavior tonight.”

“My behavior during a murder investigation?”

“Your unexplained disappearance from the gala. Your medical episode. Your involvement with Mr. Ashcroft.”

Ronan leaned slightly into camera view.

Victor’s face changed.

Good.

I said, “Be very careful which rumors you turn into corporate evidence.”

Victor smiled.

“I do not need rumors.”

He lifted a document.

My blood chilled.

“I have medical documentation.”

My father suddenly looked up.

“What documentation?”

Victor’s smile widened.

“The kind proving Adrian Vale deliberately concealed a condition that disqualifies him from Alpha succession under the family charter.”

Nobody moved.

My heartbeat became painfully slow.

Ronan’s hand settled lightly against the back of my chair.

Victor looked directly into the camera.

“Would you like to tell them, Adrian?”

I said nothing.

His smile became cruel.

“Or shall I?”

My father stood.

“Victor, stop.”

Too late.

Victor turned the document toward the camera.

At the top was my name.

Below it:

SECONDARY DESIGNATION: OMEGA.

The boardroom fell silent.

My secret had survived twenty-seven years.

It took Victor Vale three seconds to destroy it.

Then my uncle looked directly at me and said,

“Ladies and gentlemen, Adrian Vale was never an Alpha.”