“Trent,” I said softly, sliding the leather notebook toward the center of the table, “before you threaten me again, you should know that Daniel didn’t spend his last six months sleeping. He spent them teaching me.” The board members shifted uncomfortably. Trent’s smirk wavered. I opened the notebook to a tabbed page. “Section 14, paragraph C of the company charter Daniel rewrote in February. Voting shares transfer to the surviving spouse only upon her signed acceptance. I never signed. Which means for the past eight months, every vote you’ve cast, every contract you’ve signed as ‘acting CEO,’ has been legally void.” The color drained from his face. I turned another page. “This is a forensic audit from Brennan & Cole. Daniel hired them in January. They found the kickbacks from the Riverside development. The shell company in Delaware. The two hundred thousand you funneled to your mistress’s interior design firm.” Trent lunged for the folder, but the company attorney, Margaret, slid it out of reach. She’d been Daniel’s friend for thirty years. “I waited eight months, Trent. I let you strut. I let you call me a stupid little teacher at Thanksgiving. I let you tell my niece that her uncle Daniel left the company to ‘the real Hayes men.’ I needed you comfortable. I needed you sloppy.” I stood, smoothing my cardigan. “The SEC received the full report at nine this morning. Your assets were frozen at nine-fifteen. Security is waiting in the lobby to escort you out, and the locksmith finished changing your office door about ten minutes ago.” Trent’s mouth opened and closed like a dying fish. “Oh,” I added, pausing at the door, “and the kindergarten teacher? She has a Wharton MBA. Daniel just liked telling you I taught finger-painting because he wanted to see who in this family would underestimate me.” I walked out into the sunlight, Daniel’s notebook tucked against my heart, and for the first time since the funeral, I could breathe.
