Chapter 35 The Red Light
Mark’s POV
The circular boardroom felt colder than usual. Their stern glassed faces looked away.
It was obvious, there was a meeting without me before this one. Cause, there was no other reason for this physical reaction.
The silence was sharp. The faces I’d known for years wouldn’t meet my eyes.
The legal counsel cleared his throat, and I already knew this was bad.
“The board has taken a confidential vote,” he said. “Given recent… events, they’ve decided to replace your position as CEO.”
I forced a laugh that didn’t sound human. “Review? Or replace?”
He didn’t answer.
Collins’s jaw tightened beside me. The man slid a single sheet across the table, anonymous signatures, every one of them familiar.
“You have until fourteen days,” he said. “If the company’s reputation isn’t stabilized by then, you would have to step down.”
Fourteen days.
I had only two weeks to untangle lies, leaks, and ghosts.
“Is there anything you want to say?”
“No,” I muttered, the decision was already made.
“As such, the meeting is adjourned to the next two weeks,”
“I wish you the best,” the director of the board said, offering a shake.
When the meeting adjourned, chairs scraped back like an exhale of relief.
I stood still until the last one left, then pressed my hands against the glass wall, watching Atlanta traffic crawl beneath me. Cameras still circled outside the building like vultures.
Collins waited until the door closed behind us.
“The detective called,” he said quietly. “Most of the board members received large transfers last night.
“From who?”
“It was traced down to Davenport,”
My pulse thudded. “So they bought them.”
Who was this Davenport?
“She’s building a clean path to take you down.”
“Then we build one to bury her,” I said.
“Get me all the evidence again them that they were bribe,”
They really don't know who they were messing with.
Collins nodded. “I had already started.”
He hesitated before adding, “You also said you wanted to see Danielle, Becca’s sister.”
Right. One bright thing in the wreckage.
Danielle looked younger than I expected when she walked into the café.
She was soft-voiced, cautious, a mirror of Becca without the shadows in her eyes.
“Hii, I'm Mark,’’
“I know, your men saved me. I'm really grateful,” she bowed.
She offered me a seat. I ordered caffeine for the three of us.
“How long as it been since you spoke to your sister, Becca,”
She stuttered, her cup falling from her hands.
“You know Becca?” She questioned, her eyes filled with surprise.
I nodded, amazed by her reaction. I was expecting that.
“I haven’t seen her since I was three,” she whispered.
“She disappeared when we were taken. Everyone said she was dead.”
Whoa, some fascinating twist I wasn't expecting.
“She isn’t,” I said. “She’s… trying to live.”
She blinked back tears. “Can you take me to her?”
I didn’t even think before saying yes.
The ride to Becca's apartment was smooth. I couldn't help but notice the resemblance the two shared.
“I really hope Becca's reaction would be palpable,” I prayed silently.
Considering our present situation, I didn't know how she would react on seeing me on her porch again.
Becca’s apartment smelled of laundry detergent and rain. She froze when we arrived, confusion flickering across her face until Danielle spoke her name.
“Becca?”
It was like time folded.
The sound broke something open in both of them. Becca’s hand flew to her mouth; Danielle started crying.
“Danielle,’’
The next minute, they were in each other’s arms, sobbing, laughing, touching faces as if to confirm the other was real.
I stepped back, letting them have that space.
The world could fall apart again tomorrow, this moment belonged to them.
When Becca finally turned to me, her eyes were bright but calm. “You brought her to me,” she said softly. “I don’t even know how to thank you.”
“You already did,” I smiled.
She hugged me quickly, grateful, and warm.
It felt undeserved, but I didn’t move away. My hands moved slowly to her waist before she broke off.
“Please come in,” she offered. I smiled and nodded towards Collins.
“You look so pretty Elle,” Becca said to her sister.
“You don't look too well sis,” Danielle muttered.
She took her in, they had a lot of conversation about their time apart.
Well I discovered that Becca's parents were at the Elderly home.
By evening, she insisted we all have dinner together. I didn’t argue.
Danielle kept asking Becca about childhood memories, filling the small apartment with laughter that hadn’t existed there in years.
For a while, the noise of plates and soft conversation drowned the chaos outside my life.
Then Becca frowned. “Mark… has your phone always blinked like that?”
I looked down. On the table beside my plate, the phone’s screen was dark, but a faint red light pulsed from the corner, steady as a heartbeat.
“What light?” I asked, though I already felt the chill crawl up my spine.
“That one,” she said, leaning closer. “It’s blinking.”
I picked up the phone. The back casing felt slightly loose. Collins had upgraded my security system months ago, no blinking lights.
None.
I grabbed a butter knife from the table, pried at the seam, and the cover popped open.
A tiny lens gleamed back at me.
A pinhole camera.
My throat went dry. “Someone’s been watching me.”
Becca’s eyes widened. “Who would..”
Danielle stopped breathing mid-sentence. “That looks expensive. Military grade I would say”
I turned the phone over in my palm, remembering the one person who’d handled it last, my brother, Daniel. The day he’d visited, pretending to create a chaos
A quiet rage built inside me, slow and steady. The room seemed smaller, the air heavier.
Who was the betrayer, Carmen or Daniel?
Becca reached across the table, fingers brushing mine. “Mark?”
I couldn’t answer.
Collins got the camera and smashed it with his fingers, the red light blinked once more before dying.
Whoever was on the other end had already seen enough.