Luke and Raven answered together.
Emma narrowed her eyes.
“Suspicious.”
The board vote was scheduled for Friday.
If Raven lost, she would remain controlling shareholder but could be removed as CEO under governance provisions tied to institutional investor agreements.
Technically, she could fight.
Practically, it would fracture the company.
Thursday night, Raven sat in Luke’s garage beside the motorcycle that had started everything.
“I could resign.”
Luke looked up from an engine.
“Do you want to?”
“I don’t know.”
“That means no.”
She sighed.
“I am tired.”
“Different question.”
Raven looked around.
“I used to think if I became CEO, people would stop telling me I had inherited everything.”
“Did they?”
“No.”
“Now they tell me I’m destroying what I inherited.”
Luke smiled.
“People enjoy consistency.”
Raven leaned against the bench.
“If I stay, Emma keeps getting photographed.”
“If I leave, maybe Graham gets what he wants.”
Luke wiped his hands.
“What does he want?”
“Control.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
“Too easy.”
Raven frowned.
Luke continued.
“Graham has money.”
“His family has billions.”
“Why your company?”
Raven stared.
“Prestige?”
“Maybe.”
“Or something inside it.”
Raven became still.
“What?”
Luke shrugged.
“You told me the plant land team was Caldwell.”
“Graham ally.”
“Yes.”
“They pressured people.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To control cost and timeline.”
“Maybe.”
Luke reached for the damaged fuel hose he had kept hanging on a nail.
Raven stared.
He held it up.
“You think Caldwell touched my bike?”
“No.”
“Do you?”
Luke looked at the cut.
“I think somebody wanted you stranded.”
“Or hurt.”
“Maybe.”
“Why that weekend?”
Raven thought.
She had left Washington hours after a confidential executive audit meeting.
The audit concerned Steele Mobility.
A subsidiary handling battery technology.
Caldwell opposed expanding the audit.
Graham had pushed for a merger between Steele Mobility and a Vale-controlled investment vehicle.
Raven’s face changed.
Luke saw.
“What?”
“The plant.”
“What about it?”
“It isn’t primarily manufacturing.”
“What is it?”
“Battery recycling and rare-metal recovery.”
Luke waited.
Raven stood.
“The land project is tied to the Vale merger.”
Luke understood only partly.
“And?”
“If acquisition costs rise enough…”
She grabbed her phone.
“Caldwell could argue internal development no longer makes economic sense.”
“Then?”
“The board approves outsourcing the facility to Vale Infrastructure.”
Luke stared.
“Graham’s family.”
“Yes.”
The four-million-dollar detour was not just embarrassing.
It gave Caldwell leverage.
But that still did not explain sabotage.
Raven called Marcus.
“Pull every vehicle-access log from the week my bike failed.”
Pause.
“No, now.”
She listened.
“Also check who knew I was leaving the city.”
Another pause.
Raven looked toward Luke.
Her face darkened.
“What?”
he asked after she hung up.
“Marcus says the motorcycle passed through executive garage maintenance two days before I rode it.”