Chapter 10: Boardroom War

Elena couldn't breathe after reading the text on her phone.

"Leave hospital now if you want your mother to live."

Her hands were shaking so hard the phone almost fell to the white hospital tiles. Outside the window of Room 302, across the street in heavy New York rain, the black Mercedes was still parked. Vanessa Knight, Margaret's beautiful but cruel niece, stood under a black umbrella with a professional Canon camera with a long zoom lens pointed straight at Room 302. She had been taking photos of Elena and Lisa hugging.

When Vanessa saw Elena looking at her from the window, she didn't hide. She smiled, a cold, perfect smile, and blew a kiss at the hospital window, then made a throat-slitting gesture.

Click. Click. Click. The shutter kept going.

Inside the room, Lisa Hart grabbed Elena's wrist with cold, thin, shaking fingers. Her oxygen monitor started beeping too fast, 120 bpm. She had been in a coma for three months after failed kidney surgery. She was still very weak.

"Elena, my baby, don't go. It's a trap. Listen to me." Lisa's voice was a whisper, but urgent. "Last night at 2am, two men came. They wore black suits like Adrian's security, but they were Margaret's men. They told the nurse to leave. They told me if I ever wake up and tell you truth about Richard being your father, they will inject air into my IV and make it look like heart attack. They paid Dr. Smith to keep me in coma. Dr. Smith gave me medicine to keep me sleeping. Today I woke up because new nurse forgot to give me dose. Margaret will kill me now."

Elena's heart was beating so fast she thought she would faint. "Mom, if I don't go now, Adrian loses everything in next 20 minutes. Margaret sold 30% shares at 6am to James Lee for 80 million dollars. They are voting right now at Knight Tower to remove Adrian as CEO. And Margaret will tell the board that Adrian and I are brother and sister. She will tell press 'Billionaire CEO sleeps with own sister.' Even if it's a lie, his reputation will die. Knight stock will crash 50%. Thousands of employees will lose jobs. James Lee will become CEO and fire everyone."

She pulled out the truth her mother just told her five minutes ago, the secret hidden for 24 years. Richard Knight, Adrian's adoptive father, is her biological father. But Adrian is NOT Richard's blood. Adrian is the son of Thomas Knight, Margaret's first husband, who died in a car crash in 1997 when Adrian was 2 years old. Richard Knight married Margaret in 1998 and adopted Adrian. So Adrian and Elena share ZERO blood. ZERO percent. But Margaret would use the half-truth to make it look like incest.

Elena had exactly 23 minutes before the 8:30am CEO removal vote.

She made a decision. She pulled the curtain shut tight, locked the hospital room door from inside with a chair, pressed the red emergency nurse button for a long time, and when the young nurse ran in scared, Elena whispered fast, holding the nurse's hands:

"Please listen. This is Lisa Hart in Room 302. She is key witness in billionaire fraud case. Margaret Knight, owner of Knight Corp, sent men here last night at 2am to threaten to kill her. They will come back. Don't let anyone in. Not family, not doctor, not even hospital director, only you and security. Lock this floor. Please call security now and call NYPD. Tell them someone tried to kill patient in Room 302. I will pay you $5000. Please."

The nurse was a young Ghanaian girl named Ama, 24, who recognized Elena from TV. She nodded, tears in eyes: "I saw two black men here at 2am. They told me to go on break. I knew something wrong. I will lock door and call security now. Go save your husband."

Elena slipped out through the back fire exit stairwell, hoodie up, no umbrella, no phone battery, running into heavy New York rain. She had no money for taxi because Adrian's driver was with Adrian at board meeting. She ran six blocks in rain, shoes full of water, to Knight Tower.

Knight Tower, 42nd Floor, Boardroom. 8:17 AM.

Rain hit the floor-to-ceiling glass walls that showed all of Manhattan, but inside the boardroom it was ice cold, air conditioning at 18 degrees.

Adrian Knight stood at the head of the long black marble table that cost $200,000. His black Tom Ford suit was perfect but his tie was undone and hanging, and his right knuckles were bleeding fresh blood. He had just punched James Lee in the face when James Lee said "Your little gold-digger wife faked her mother's coma."

Seven board members sat frozen, in expensive suits, holding coffee. Margaret Knight, 58, sat at opposite end in white Chanel suit and pearls, smiling like a queen, with a stack of legal documents in front of her: SHARE