Page 132 of Secret Heir For The Billionaire Twin

Daniel looks at him. “Yesterday.”

Adrian nods once. “Right.”

I check the clock.

11:42.

In eighteen minutes, I need to convince several billion dollars' worth of institutional investors that the company remains stable while regulators on two continents are asking whether the way we built it was legal.

At 2:00, I have to sit in front of a board whose loyalties become less predictable every time the stock price drops. My office door opens again, and a member of the legal team places another stack of printed documents on the credenza.

“Additional subpoenas,” she says.

I look at the stack.

“How many?”

“Four.”

She leaves before I can ask anything else. Adrian walks over and picks up the first packet.

“This is getting worse by the hour.”

“I know.”

“They're going to start looking for someone to blame.”

“I know that too.”

Adrian drops the packet onto the table. For the first time in forty-eight hours, neither of us has another immediate instruction to give. The pause lasts less than ten seconds. Then Daniel looks up from his tablet.

“Investor call is live.”

I button my jacket, take my seat at the head of the table, and reach for the conference controls.

“Put them through.”

The emergency board session begins at 2:03 and turns adversarial before 2:20.

Preston Hale waits until Vivian finishes summarizing the regulatory posture before he makes his move.

“We need a formal crisis committee,” Preston says, folding his hands over the papers in front of him.

“Independent authority, direct reporting from Legal, and the ability to approve material responses before management acts.”

I look across the table at him.

“You mean before I act.”

Preston doesn’t flinch.

“I mean before any executive whose decisions may eventually fall within the scope of the investigation acts without oversight.”

Adrian sits beside me, expression hard.

“That’s a convenient distinction,” Adrian says.

“It’s a necessary one,” Preston replies.