Chapter 6 - THE MEETING ON THE TOP FLOOR
The federal investigators did not arrest anyone in the lobby.
Not yet.
They asked Ellie to continue behaving as though she knew only about the affair.
Evidence needed to be preserved before Graham or Celeste realized how much Audrey had copied.
Ellie rode the gold elevator to the executive floor.
Celeste stood beside her.
For thirty silent floors, neither woman looked away.
When the doors opened, Graham was waiting.
His face changed when he saw the uniform.
“Ellie.”
She stepped into the office.
“You told me you were still overseas.”
“You told me you missed me.”
Graham dismissed his staff.
Celeste remained.
Ellie placed her military bag beside the conference table.
“How long has your employee been using my name?”
Celeste folded her arms.
“I have never claimed to be you.”
“The visitor system calls you Eleanor Whitlock.”
“That was an administrative shortcut.”
“You signed federal event records.”
“On behalf of the company.”
“With my name.”
Graham moved closer.
“Let’s go home and discuss this privately.”
“Which home?”
His expression tightened.
Ellie looked at Celeste’s pendant.
“Take it off.”
Celeste touched the silver star.
“Graham gave it to me.”
“It was made for my promotion.”
“Then perhaps he decided it belonged to someone who was present.”
Ellie’s eyes became cold.
Graham stepped between them.
“Celeste, leave.”
“No,” Ellie said. “She can hear this.”
She placed her phone on the table and opened the company gallery.
“How many contracts used my photograph, biography, or service record?”
Graham exhaled.
“The public information helped establish trust.”
“How many?”
“Ellie, don’t turn this into a military investigation.”
“It became one when someone forged a colonel’s authorization.”
Celeste’s confidence flickered.
Graham saw it.
“You contacted someone?”
“I took a photograph.”
His face paled.
He reached toward the phone.
Ellie moved it away.
“Did you file a petition declaring me unstable?”
Graham looked at Celeste.
That single glance answered the question.
“It was a precaution,” he said.
“Against what?”
“Against you destroying the company because of a personal misunderstanding.”
Ellie almost laughed.
“You built a second wife under my name, forged my signature, and tried to take my trust.”
Graham’s voice hardened.
“I built this company.”
“My trust owns it.”
The room went silent.
Then Celeste’s phone lit up with a message from the chief financial officer.
BOARD TRANSFER MOVED TO TODAY. SIGNATURES AT 4:00.
Ellie saw the preview.
May you like
So did Graham.
👉 Graham and Celeste were no longer planning to take the company on Monday—the final transfer would happen in less than two hours.
