Billionaire CEO Goes Undercover—And Finds His Company’s Biggest Secret
Chapter 7
Nathan returned to headquarters the next morning.
For the first time since becoming CEO, he entered the boardroom knowing he was surrounded by enemies.
Richard Coleman smiled.
“Glad you’re back.”
Nathan sat.
“I’ve been investigating something.”
Richard’s smile remained.
“Company business?”
“Yes.”
Victor Lang was present.
So were three directors.
Nathan placed a folder on the table.
“Why was the Cole Family Trust never closed?”
Richard looked at Victor.
Then back at Nathan.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
Nathan slid the documents forward.
“You’ve controlled my trust for twenty years.”
Silence.
One director looked shocked.
Victor remained calm.
“Those funds were managed for your protection.”
“My protection?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did money leave the trust?”
Victor didn’t answer.
Nathan turned to Richard.
“Why?”
Richard cleared his throat.
“Investment strategy.”
Nathan opened another folder.
“Why were payments made to shell companies?”
No one spoke.
“Why was money transferred to Cole Security Services?”
Still silence.
Nathan leaned back.
“I know about my father.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“What about him?”
“He tried to expose you.”
Richard looked nervous.
Victor remained silent.
Nathan turned toward him.
“You killed him.”
The room went still.
Victor finally spoke.
“You have no proof.”
Nathan smiled.
“Not yet.”
Victor stood.
“This is absurd.”
Nathan pressed a button.
A recording played.
His mother’s voice.
Your father didn’t die because of an accident.
He was killed.
Victor’s face went pale.
Richard stood.
“Where did you get that?”
Nathan smiled.
“Now you’re asking the right question.”
The meeting erupted.
Directors argued.
Victor demanded the recording be shut off.
Nathan refused.
Then the boardroom doors opened.
Federal investigators entered.
Nathan’s pulse raced.
Richard looked at him.
“You called them?”
“Yes.”
Victor stepped backward.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”
Agents arrested Richard.
Victor tried to leave.
Two officers blocked him.
Before they took him away, he looked at Nathan.
“Your father begged me.”
Nathan’s expression hardened.
“For what?”
“To protect you.”
Nathan froze.
“From who?”
Victor smiled bitterly.
“Not from me.”
He was taken away.
Nathan looked at the investigators.
“What did he mean?”
One investigator handed him a file.
“Read this.”
It contained communications between Victor and a foreign investment group.
The group had tried to take control of Cole Industries five years earlier.
Victor had resisted them.
Why?
The investigators had another file.
His father had been working with federal officials.
He had planned to expose the foreign group.
Victor had been helping him.
Until he was compromised.
Nathan stared.
“So Victor wasn’t alone.”
“No.”
“Who was above him?”
“We’re still investigating.”
Nathan looked at the board.
Some directors avoided his eyes.
One stood up.
“My God.”
Nathan recognized him.
James Foster.
The director who had joined the board after Nathan’s father’s death.
He was crying.
“You don’t understand.”
“What?”
“Your father wasn’t protecting you from Victor.”
Nathan stared.
“Then who?”
James pointed toward Richard.
“Richard was.”
Nathan frowned.
“Richard?”
“Yes.”
“He was helping my father.”
Nathan felt dizzy.
The entire story had just changed again.
James continued.
“Your father had discovered that someone inside the family was selling company secrets.”
“Who?”
James looked at Nathan.
“Your mother.”
Nathan froze.
“What?”
“Your mother wasn’t a victim.”
Silence.
“She was the one who stole the original money.”
Nathan felt the floor disappear beneath him.
His mother.
The woman he had just watched confess to his father’s murder.
Could she have been involved from the beginning?
