Chapter 38 - The Unmasking
The entire boardroom erupted into frantic shouting as shareholders leaped out of their executive leather chairs.
"Order! Sit down, all of you!" the lead federal marshal shouted, flashing his gold badge under the chandelier.
Daniel walked straight toward the head of the table, stopping three inches from Arthur’s trembling frame.
Marcus followed behind, setting a military-grade rugged laptop onto the mahogany surface and connecting it to the massive wall projection screen.
"What is the meaning of this theater?!" Arthur demanded, recovering his sneer and glaring at the board. "Daniel is having a nervous breakdown! Arrest him!"
"Shut your mouth, Arthur," Daniel said in a tone so low and lethal that even the federal agents tensed.
Daniel tapped a single key on the laptop.
The massive video wall behind them flickered to life, displaying high-resolution forensic autopsy reports dated ten years prior.
Gasps tore through the gathered board members as the projected documents revealed unmistakable signatures.
"Ten years ago, my father did not die of natural causes," Daniel announced, his voice ringing through the room with unquestioned authority.
"This is absurd fiction!" Arthur yelled, slamming both hands onto the table.
"The digital audit trail shows twenty-two million dollars transferred from your private Swiss account to a rogue toxicologist in Zurich," Daniel stated, advancing another slide.
The screen changed, displaying the exact chemical compound that had killed Daniel’s father: potassium cyanide, masked as cardiac arrest.
Emily stepped forward, placing a thick leather-bound folder right in front of the board’s chief legal counsel.
"And here are the bank records proving Arthur funded the attack on my life at the altar," Emily said clearly, her voice strong and unwavering.
"He manipulated Victoria into assaulting me," Emily continued, staring down the disgraced uncle. "He needed the marriage annulled before the midnight deadline so the estate would default to him."
Arthur backed away from the table, his eyes darting frantically toward the private executive elevators at the back of the room.
Two armed federal marshals immediately stepped in front of the doors, hands resting on their holstered weapons.
"Arthur Van Allen," the lead marshal declared, pulling steel handcuffs from his tactical belt. "You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, corporate embezzlement, and the homicide of Charles Van Allen."
Arthur looked around the room, realizing that not a single person at that table would raise a finger to save him.
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"You think you’ve won, Daniel?" Arthur hissed, baring his teeth as the agents twisted his arms behind his back. "You have no idea who really controls this city!"
"All I know," Daniel whispered into his uncle’s ear as the steel cuffs clicked shut, "is that you will spend the rest of your pathetic life dying in a concrete cage."
