Blood ran warm behind my ear as I pushed through the ballroom doors, and three hundred investors turned toward me in stunned silence. Onstage, my family was thirty seconds away from stealing the company my father had died protecting.
The corporate conference occupied the top floor of the Halcyon Tower in downtown San Francisco. Giant screens displayed the silver logo of Vale Systems, while journalists, shareholders, and executives waited for the “historic leadership announcement.
” My uncle Raymond stood at the podium wearing the smile he used at funerals and hostile takeovers.
“Due to concerns regarding Elena Vale’s health and judgment,” he announced, “the board will vote to remove her as chief executive effective immediately.”
My aunt Celeste sat beside him, pretending to look heartbroken. My cousin Marcus lounged in the chairman’s seat as though it already belonged to him.
Then they saw me. The smile vanished from Raymond’s face.
“Elena,” Celeste whispered. “You should be in the hospital.”
Two hours earlier, someone had forced my car into a construction barrier on the Bay Bridge approach. The police called it an accident. I knew better. My steering system had been remotely disabled using an internal Vale Systems diagnostic code. Only six people had access to that code.
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