Chapter 6
The boardroom was packed the next morning.
Every board member was there.
Reporters lined the back wall.
Helen sat at the head of the table, looking smug.
She’d already told the press she had the votes.
That by noon, I’d be finished.
Mia sat at the far end of the table.
She gave me a tiny, almost invisible nod when I walked in.
I didn’t sit in the back this time.
I walked straight to the empty chair to Helen’s left.
The chair that belonged to the largest shareholder.
Helen’s smile faltered.
“You have no right to be here,” she hissed.
“Until the court says otherwise, those shares are still in dispute.”
I sat down.
Crossed my legs.
“Actually, Mrs. Langford. My lawyers filed a motion last night. The judge ruled that until the hearing next week, I retain full voting rights for all 42% of my shares. So I have every right to be here. In fact… I’m the only one in this room who does.”
I turned to the other board members.
“Before we vote on Mrs. Langford’s little statement, I think you all deserve to know who you’re really doing business with.”
I nodded to Marcus, who was standing by the door.
He dimmed the lights.
Turned on the projector.
The first image came up.
A bank statement.
Dated three days after my “funeral.”
Showing $5 million transferred from the Langford Group pension fund to a private offshore account owned by Helen Langford.
The room gasped.
Helen stood up so fast her chair scraped the floor.
“That’s a fake!” she shouted.
“Forgery! This woman is deranged!”
I held up a hand.
“Next slide, please.”
An email.
From Helen to her lawyer.
Dated the same day.
Make sure the transfer leaves no trail.
Once the pension is drained, we’ll blame it on Elena.
Dead women can’t defend themselves.
Next slide.
A photo.
Helen, Daniel, and Lila in my kitchen.
The night they tried to kill me.
Taken by the hidden security camera I’d installed in the smoke detector three weeks earlier, after I’d caught Daniel cheating for the third time.
I’d forgotten all about it.
Marcus had found the footage when he’d searched the house after rescuing me.
The photo was clear.
I was tied to the chair.
Bleeding.
Helen was holding the syringe.
Daniel and Lila were standing behind her, smiling.
The room went dead silent.
You could hear a pin drop.
Helen stared at the screen.
Her face was ashen.
She looked like she was going to be sick.
Then Daniel stood up.
Trembling.
“I didn’t know!” he shouted, pointing at his mother.
“She made me do it! She said if I didn’t help her, she’d cut me off! She said she’d take Aiden away from Lila and me! I never wanted to hurt Elena! I loved her!”
The room erupted again.
Reporters shouted questions.
Board members stood up, yelling at each other.
Helen turned on Daniel, her face twisted with rage.
“You ungrateful little bastard!” she screamed.
“I gave you everything! I built this company for you! And you throw me under the bus for that whore?”
She lunged across the table at him.
Two security guards pulled her back.
I stood up.
The room went quiet again.
“Daniel says he loved me,” I said, my voice carrying across the room.
“That he was forced. That he’s innocent.”
I nodded to Marcus again.
Next slide.
A text message.
From Daniel to Lila.
Dated the morning of the attack.
Tonight’s the night.
Once the baby’s out, we can finally be a real family.
Helen’s got the drugs.
No loose ends.
I love you.
Daniel collapsed back into his chair.
Buried his face in his hands.
I turned to the board.
“Mrs. Langford wants you to sign a statement saying I’m a fraud. That I’m dangerous. That you should back her. But ask yourselves this: if she’ll drug her own pregnant daughter-in-law, steal from her own employees’ pensions, and lie to the whole world for four years… what will she do to you when it’s convenient?”
I paused.
Let that sink in.
“I’m calling for an immediate vote. To remove Helen Langford as CEO of Langford Group. To remove Daniel Langford from the board. And to appoint Mia Langford as interim CEO, effective immediately.”
I looked around the table.
“All in favor?”
One by one, hands went up.
First Mia.
Then the oldest board member, who’d been friends with my father-in-law.
Then another.
And another.
Until every single hand in the room was raised but Helen’s and Daniel’s.
The vote was unanimous.
Helen was led out of the building by security, screaming curses at everyone she saw.
Daniel followed, head down, hiding his face from the cameras.
I walked out of the boardroom to a wall of reporters shouting my name.
I didn’t run.
I didn’t hide.
I stopped.
Looked straight into the nearest camera.
“My name is Elena Voss,” I said, loud and clear.
“I am the sole owner of Voss Global and Blackwood Capital. I am the largest shareholder of Langford Group. And I am alive. For four years, Helen Langford and her son Daniel told the world I died in a car crash. The truth is, they tried to murder me. And I am not going anywhere until every single one of them pays for what they did.”
That night, the news was wall-to-wall Elena Voss.
My face was on every channel.
My story was on every front page.
Lily was sitting on the couch next to me, coloring, while I watched the coverage.
She looked up.
“Mama? Why are you on TV?”
I pulled her into my lap.
Kissed the top of her head.
“Because Mama had to tell the truth, baby. About some bad people who hurt me a long time ago.”
Lily frowned.
“Did they go away now?”
“Almost, baby. Almost.”
My phone rang.
It was my lawyer.
May you like
His voice was tight.
“Elena. We just got the court filing for the hearing next week. Helen’s not going down without a fight. She just added a new claim. She’s saying you’re not Lily’s biological mother. That you stole her from a hospital in Switzerland four years ago. She’s got a fake birth certificate. Fake DNA tests. Three paid witnesses. If the judge believes her… she’ll get full custody of Lily. And you’ll go to jail for kidnapping.”
