Chapter 161
Kieran was in his office, watching the news. He saw the footage of Zack being led away in handcuffs. He saw the headline about the stolen violin.
“Aspen,” Kieran said, his voice hollow. “Did you lie to me?”
“I did it for us!” Aspen screamed. “She was trying to ruin your reputation! I had to stop her!”
“You framed her,” Kieran said. “You made me look like an idiot. I defended you.”
“Kieran, please — I need bail money!”
Kieran hesitated. Every instinct told him to help her. But the image of the Ibiza photo surfaced in his mind, sharp and undeniable. The lie.
“I… I can’t talk right now,” he said.
He hung up.
Aspen stood on the sidewalk outside her father’s building. It was raining. She had no allies left.
She stared at the oncoming traffic on Park Avenue, the headlights dissolving into smears of light through her tears.
A dark idea took shape in her mind.
𝗥𝗼𝗆а𝗻𝗰𝖾 𝗻𝗈v𝗲𝗅ѕ оո 𝗀a𝗹𝗇o𝗏е𝘭𝗌.𝗰𝗈𝗺
If I’m hurt, they have to forgive me.
She stepped closer to the curb.
Then she pulled back. Not yet. She needed a better stage. She needed an audience.
The boardroom of the Wolfe Hotel was full. The air conditioning hummed steadily, but the tension in the room was thick enough to cut.
Jocelyn sat at the head of the table, impeccable in a white suit.
“The police report clears us completely,” she announced.
She slid the document down the table. The board members picked it up in turn, nodding with visible relief.
“However,” Jocelyn continued, “this incident exposed a critical weakness.”
She gestured to the screen on the wall. Uncle Vincent’s face appeared red and pixelated on the Zoom call, dialing in from home.
“Vincent Wolfe conspired to disable security protocols, allowing the breach,” she stated. “The logs show the security override was initiated using credentials stolen from Harvey, at the exact time you were seen on another camera luring him away from his post under false pretenses.”
“I object! It was a technical glitch!” Vincent shouted through the speakers. “Harvey gave me his password!”
“The IP address was your phone, Vincent,” Jocelyn said calmly. “I move to immediately terminate Vincent Wolfe’s connection to this company, to strip him of his non-voting shares for cause, and to cooperate with the NYPD in their ongoing investigation into his role as an accomplice.”
“Seconded,” said a board member who held five percent.
“We need a vote,” the Chairman said.
Hands went up — one by one, steadily around the table. Even Vincent’s old allies raised theirs. No one wanted to be tied to a sinking ship, and Vincent had become an anchor.
The vote was unanimous.
“You can’t do this! I’m your uncle!” Vincent screamed. “I built this place!”
Jocelyn glanced at the tech coordinator.
“Mute him.”
A button was clicked. Vincent’s mouth kept moving, silently hurling obscenities at the room, but the boardroom was blissfully quiet.
“Silence is golden,” Jocelyn murmured.
She ended the call. Vincent’s face disappeared into the black void of a disconnected screen.
.