She hadn’t moved her mouth when he told Elise to leave. She hadn’t held his pen when he asked for temporary custody. She hadn’t ordered him to look at Hugo and Jules like they were burdensome luggage.
“Did you love me?” he asked.
Clara hesitated for 2 seconds.
That was enough.
The next day, Marc gave Maître Lenoir a USB drive containing the report and messages between Clara and Gérard. He asked for nothing in return. Or rather, he understood that he no longer had anything to ask for.
The emergency board meeting took place four days later at the Vallier Group headquarters. Outside, cameras were clustered behind barriers. Elise was wearing a six-year-old navy blue suit. Maître Lenoir had offered her a stylist. She had refused.
— If they need me to carry 20,000 euros to believe I have the right to enter, they still haven’t understood anything.
Before leaving, she kissed Hugo and Jules. Hugo asked:
— Are they going to hurt you?
— They’re going to say things I don’t like.
— About Grandpa Paul?
– Yes.
Jules looked up.
— Was he mean, Grandpa?
Elise felt her chest tighten.
— No. And today, I’m going to make sure that no one can say it anymore just because powerful people have repeated the same lie for 25 years.
In the council chamber, Gérard Beaumont was already seated. Clara was standing behind him. Marc, meanwhile, had taken a seat apart, his eyes ringed with dark circles, a USB key placed in front of him.
Gérard attacked before Elise even sat down.
— This woman is not a recognized shareholder. Her presence here is staged.
Antoine replied:
She is here as a representative of Paul Moreau’s estate, pending the court’s decisions. She will not vote. But she will listen.
Gérard gave a dry smile.
— So we’re going to weaken a multi-billion dollar group because a stranger found an old key and a sad photo?
Elise looked at him.
— I didn’t come here to run your company.
— So why are you here?
— To hear you explain why my father was called a thief for 25 years.
The external auditors began. The statements appeared on the screen. Shell companies, wire transfers, computer access, altered contracts. Gérard dismissed it all as ordinary financial structures, legal arrangements, belated interpretations.
Then the listener changed slides.
Three wire transfers attributed to Paul had been validated during the week he was hospitalized after a car accident. The signatures could be prepared, Gérard ventured.
“We’re not talking about signatures,” the auditor replied. “The electronic authorizations were entered from the group’s Paris offices. Mr. Moreau was 47 kilometers away, in a hospital bed.”
The room froze.
Next came the former accountant’s statement, then the documents from the safe. Gérard contested every page.
— Notes written 25 years ago by an accused man prove nothing.
Antoine leaned forward.
— He was never convicted.
— Because the matter had become embarrassing.
“No,” replied Antoine. “Because we destroyed it before a court needed to do so.”
Clara then moves forward.
— Even if mistakes were made a long time ago, we must talk about Elise’s motivations.
She projected the articles.
— Luxury apartment, funds for his children, a claim worth hundreds of millions… This looks more like an opportunity than a quest for truth.
Elise turned her head towards her.
— I did not give this information to the press.
– Practical.
— You know what was convenient, Clara? Investigating my family 3 months before seducing my husband.
Clara’s face went blank.
Marc gets up.
— She’s telling the truth.
He handed the USB key to Master Lenoir.
— It contains his approach report and the messages with his father.
Gérard banged on the table.
— Sit down.
Marc didn’t move.
— No. I’ve been a coward long enough already.
The files were checked, then projected. They read: “Use Marc’s ambition. Distance him from the family identity. Obtain information on Elise Moreau and the Paul Moreau estate. Encourage a formal separation before Antoine finds the daughter.”
Elise stared at the screen.
Her marriage had been turned into a surveillance tool.
Marc spoke in a broken voice.
— I am not a victim. I cheated on Elise because I wanted to. I humiliated her because I wanted to. I signed papers against her because I was afraid of losing my job.
Clara sneered.
— Do you think confessing makes you noble?
— No. It only proves that I finally refuse to become worse.
Then Master Lenoir asked to broadcast the restored recording. Gérard protested. Antoine gave his permission.
Paul Moreau’s voice filled the room, deep, tired, alive.
— You’re stealing, Gérard.
Then Gérard’s, younger, icy:
— If you show this to Antoine, you’ll destroy the company.
— Then perhaps she deserves to be.
Silence.
Then Gérard:
— Make sure your family survives what comes next.
Even the most cynical administrators lowered their eyes.
Gérard takes himself.
— It’s a setup.
An audio expert, via videoconference, confirmed the tape’s integrity. Then, a former assistant to the accountant entered with two lawyers. He placed original transaction orders on the table, different from the archived copies. Two of the documents contained handwritten instructions from Gérard.
This time, there was no longer any possibility of a mask.
Antoine demanded the immediate suspension of Gérard from all his functions, the transmission of the file to the financial authorities and the public prosecutor’s office, as well as an internal investigation into Clara for misuse of group resources and media leaks.
The vote was overwhelming.
Gérard left, escorted by security, his face hard, but his hands trembling. Clara called out to Élise:
— All of this is because of you.
Elise looked at her almost with pity.
— No. I was already there. You simply believed that a powerless woman could be erased without consequences.
Then Antoine turned to Marc.
— Your cooperation is helpful. It doesn’t erase what you’ve done.
Marc nodded.
– I understand.
