Chapter 280: Meeting with the Board of Directors, Part 3.
Clara
The silence that fell over the room after my lawyer’s words was devastating. Heavy…
Uncomfortable. Almost impossible to breathe in.
I was still sitting across from Alexander, but it felt as if miles had suddenly separated us. He was no longer the man with whom I had built this company’s expansion, no longer the partner who had helped me open doors in New York. Now he was someone I could barely recognize, And yet… A
part of me was still trying to understand why.
Why do it? Why risk so much?
My fingers were freezing under the table as the board members began exchanging glances.
Hale was the first to speak, slowly removing his glasses and placing them on the table.
“This is… serious.”
His voice was lower than usual, and he looked again at the documents in front of him. Then he
looked up at Alexander.
“Very serious.”
Alexander maintained a composed expression. His hands were clasped in front of him, and
anyone watching from the outside would have thought he was still calm. But I knew him; I could
see it. The tension in his jaw, the rigidity of his shoulders, the way he avoided moving his hands too
much. He was nervous, much more than he wanted to show.
One of the executives cleared his throat. Mr. Beaumont, one of the members of the company’s
board of directors.
“So, are we saying that one of the senior partners deliberately altered internal documents and
jeopardized the Boston expansion?”
My lawyer answered before anyone else.
“What we’re saying is that there is sufficient evidence to open a formal investigation and take immediate preventative measures while the facts are clarified.”
“That’s absurd,” one of Alexander’s lawyers quickly interjected. “So far, everything presented is
circumstantial.”
“Circumstantial?” I asked, unable to contain myself.
HI
O
r
Everyone looked at me.
I took a deep breath before continuing.
“There was document manipulation. Emails sent from his office. Strategic layoffs. Operational disruptions. A security incident in an elevator that could have ended in tragedy.”
I looked directly at Alexander… the faces he makes when his actions are repeated are priceless
“Is it also a coincidence that the engineer personally warned him that the elevator couldn’t be
used?”
He held my gaze, and for a second I saw something dark pass through his eyes. Something like anger, or perhaps disappointment. I didn’t know.
One of the lawyers intervened again.
“My client categorically denies having acted with the intention of harming the company.”
“Then what explanation do you have?” Hale asked.
Alexander finally spoke, his voice firm and controlled.
“I have no reason to sabotage a project that also belongs to me.”
“Then explain to us why there are records from your terminal authorizing actions that directly
affected the project,” my lawyer countered.
Alexander barely turned his face toward him.
“Because someone was able to use my access.”
“And who?”
He didn’t answer immediately. And that brief second of silence… made everything worse.
Mr. Beaumont let out a heavy sigh.
“Alexander, I’ve worked with you for years. Everyone here respects you, but what Clara presented isn’t just rumor. This goes far beyond office gossip.”
Another board member nodded slowly.
“The coincidences are starting to become too numerous.”
I watched Alexander. He was still trying to maintain that impeccable image of a serene man, but I could see his breathing slowing. Deeper. As if he were regulating himself, calculating. Thinking about how to get out of this.
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