Page 24 of Monochrome (ORCA #4)

CHAPTER

TWENTY-FOUR

ETHAN

“I fucking hate that I have to be here today.” I dropped my computer bag on my desk and blew out a huge sigh.

“I hate that Carl Jacobsen thinks he has me by my balls.”

Julius shot a quick glance at the door, then, realizing it was closed, crossed the room to pull me into his arms. “I know, babe, but as soon as this meeting is over, we’ll head back to the estate and figure out what we are going to do about tomorrow.”

“We should be doing that right now.”

“You need to put out one fire at a time.”

Julius and I were pretty evenly matched in height, and I let my forehead fall against his, soaking up his strength for a second.

When I straightened, I took a step back and shook out my hands.

“All right. Game face on.”

Grabbing my laptop and the file folder filled with the data Felix and Marcus had put together in case I had to prove my innocence to the board, I took a deep breath and started for the door.

I wanted to be the first one in the conference room so I could assure the only time Carl had to talk to any of the other board members was if he rode the elevator up with them or if he’d orchestrated a premeeting, in which case I was already dead in the water.

Thinking that phrase reminded me of the photo of the dead orca on the beach that had been part of the video message I’d received, and what it had been like to see Julius in his orca form.

He’d been absolutely stunning, and while I knew he was self-conscious about his coloring compared to his brothers, I thought he was beautiful.

It broke something in my soul to think about him being the one lying dead on the sand, and I had to swallow down the bile that threatened to rise in my throat.

“You okay, E? You’re a little pale.”

Waving Julius’s question away, I nodded.

“Fine.” But if we didn’t figure out what we were going to do—what I was going to do—about tomorrow’s deadline, I wasn’t sure things would stay fine for long.

If I was going down, I didn’t want to drag Jules or his family down with me, but since we’d bonded, I no longer had a choice, which just made everything that much more complicated.

I headed for the door again, my thoughts a jumble of dead orcas, deadlines, and defenses for things I hadn’t been officially accused of yet.

I waited for Julius before I turned the handle and made my way to the conference room.

As I’d hoped, I was the first one there, and in a move that was out of character for me, I positioned myself at the head of the table rather than in the middle.

“There he is.”

The statement brought me up short, and I thought for a second Carl had walked in.

But, no, we were still alone, and I felt a surge of pride that wasn’t mine in our bond.

“What?”

“You look like the CEO you are at the head of the table with those windows and the skyline behind you.” He closed the distance between us and kissed me fast and hard, smacking my ass as he stepped away.

“You’ve got this, E.”

Settling into the chair I’d chosen and watching the door, I took stock of myself.

Since Julius had come into my life, I felt like I was returning to myself, like the part of me that had died with Tessa had been reborn, and I was whole and myself again.

It had been a long time since I’d felt proud of myself, but I was starting to be able to see myself through Julius’s eyes, and feeling his pride in me filled me up in a way nothing else had before him.

Logically, I’d always known I was intelligent, capable, and competent, but now I was starting to feel that way.

Carl waltzed into the room five minutes later and stopped short when he saw I was already there.

His face pinched like he’d sucked a lemon, and I knew I’d been spot-on in my assumption that he had been hoping to get the rest of the board to hear him out before I arrived.

“Ethan, you’re early. For once.”

The barb didn’t land the way he’d intended, but I still felt Julius’s answering surge of annoyance.

“Hello, Carl. I trust this won’t be the waste of time I’m certain it will be.”

A smug smirk tugged up the corners of his lips, and while the expression was unsettling, I didn’t let it show.

I was holding more of the cards than he thought.

“We’ll see.” The older man settled into the seat he normally chose.

Usually, that seat was directly across from me, but now he’d have to turn to address me, and I really kind of liked that.

The rest of the board trickled in, and at exactly eleven o’clock, I called the meeting to order, acknowledging the short notice and turning the floor over to Carl right off the bat.

He sputtered, surprised that I was letting him take the reins so early.

He cleared his throat.

“It has been brought to my attention that there have been multiple transfers from Grove Core corporate accounts into private offshore accounts since Ethan was CFO and even more frequently since he assumed the CEO position. It seems Ethan’s recent decision to monitor all spending is smoke and mirrors so no one else can trace his wrongdoing.”

Elaine gasped but hid it behind her hand and schooled her features almost instantly.

“That’s a weighty accusation to make, Carl. I’m assuming you have proof.”

Carl’s mouth pinched again.

“Well, no. Not so much proof as questions.” He pulled a sheaf of papers from the folder in front of him.

“I’d like Ethan to speak to the transactions listed here.” He slid the papers down the table, but they didn’t make it all the way to me, and Julius picked them up and passed them to me.

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

The dates and transactions that stared back at me were the same ones that had been contained in the email I’d spent hours looking at since it had arrived in my inbox last week.

There was no way in hell this was a coincidence.

Which begged the question, was Carl the big bad behind trying to frame me for embezzlement while also trying to obtain The Evolution of Man from Julius’s family, or was he an accomplice?

If the latter, was he a willing participant or an unwitting pawn?

Julius, sensing my emotions, put a hand on my thigh under the table, and I wordlessly passed him the documents.

“That man is not part of this corporation. Those are internal documents.” Carl’s lined face went an ugly, mottled red as Julius perused the pages.

When my mate spoke, directly addressing Carl, his tone was stone cold.

“Where did you get these records?”

Carl crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s not your concern.”

“Actually, I’d like to know the answer to that too, Carl.” Elaine gave me a small smile, then turned to glare at Carl.

He huffed, clearly backed into a corner he hadn’t anticipated since he’d thought he could turn the board against me before I even walked into the room, and I’d handedly thwarted that plan.

“They were emailed to me with a message that I needed to look into what Ethan was doing with company funds.”

“What was the source of the email?” Elaine’s question was pointed, and Carl knew it.

His face went a deeper shade of red, quickly nearing purple.

“I do not feel I need to disclose that information.”

Paul Atelier, who rarely spoke at any of the board meetings, leaned forward, his Québécois accent on full display as he too turned on Carl.

“Yet you felt the need to bring your concerns before this board? I will not allow Ethan to be tried before we have even had a chance to hear the evidence against him and question the source of that evidence.”

“That is not possible.” Carl spat the words at Paul, and I had had enough.

Slamming my palm on the table, I moved the focus of the men and women seated around the table to me.

“I’m uncertain where you got these emails, Carl, but I also received an email containing these documents and several threats. That email and these documents, which are fraudulent records, have been turned over to the police.” Technically, they hadn’t been, but Eli had seen them, and he was technically a cop, so my lie wasn’t technically a lie.

“They will be launching an investigation soon, and I expect all members of the board to cooperate.”

All the color that had risen in Carl’s face drained out, leaving him pale and sweating, and I felt Julius’s satisfaction mingle with my own.

Carl was involved in this.

Of that I had no doubt.

The depth of his involvement still remained to be understood, but he was in this thing up to his eyeballs.

We finally had a lead.

Before I could take too much satisfaction in Carl’s reaction, my phone dinged.

I pulled it out and saw a new email notification on the home screen.

Normally, I would have left it unopened until after we adjourned, but the hair on the back of my neck was standing on end.

“Open it, E.” Julius stood and walked behind my chair so he could read over my shoulder.

It was another email from my sister’s account with the words Tick Tock in the subject line.

The body of the email was short.

Ethan,

I thought you might need a little encouragement.

I’ll be in touch.

The room had gone silent, and my hand shook as my finger hovered over the attachment.

When the picture opened, my heart fell out of my chest.