2. Owen #3
“The entire time, our vice president, Rory, was feeding all the progress reports he intercepted to the Winebergs,” Darius told the table, his eyes flashing with a cold, protective anger.
“He thought he was being a clever corporate mole, but he was actually building our paper trail for us.
Every leak he transmitted was linked directly to Baxter's cloned profile so that Baxter would eventually take the fall when the project collapsed.”
“But we officially acquired the land,” Baxter said, leaning back in his chair with a quiet chuckle.
“We were all set to begin the initial grading,” Darius said. “Then, we struck those planted artifacts.”
“The sharks took the bait exactly as we anticipated,” Anna told them, a rare, bright laugh escaping her lips.
“The moment the state archaeologists were notified, Hyrum and his private consultant team flooded the site to personally inspect the findings, and they immediately issued an official report.”
“The artifacts were real, of course,” Darius said. “We received the state notification yesterday. The East Bay Street project has been temporarily shut down, pending a full federal heritage review.”
“They walked right into our trap,” Anna said, her eyes shining with triumph, and even Penny let out a soft snort of amusement.
“Idiots,” Penny said.
“I don’t get it,” Michael said, looking around the table, thoroughly perplexed. “What exactly was the trap?”
“When I was still engaged to Thompson,” Gill began, her tone turning analytical, “he asked if his family’s environmental firm could perform a private soil survey on the harbor tract.
Then Hyrum arrived, claiming they needed to perform deep core testing, giving some bogus geological reason.
I didn't think anything of it then. What I didn’t realize until we ran our own secret, high-resolution scans recently was that they had planted stolen colonial-era artifacts deep in the lower strata.
They had executed the planting so professionally, using specialized turf replacement, that you wouldn't even know the soil had been disturbed.”
“Why would they do that?” Maggie asked, her brow contouring in confusion. “Wouldn’t stalling a prime development site be absolutely detrimental to their own long-term plans for the harbor?”
"As it turns out," Darius said, his tone sharpening with anticipation, "we have been closely monitoring Rory’s encrypted email. We managed to intercept a direct email exchange sent from Thompson Wineberg's private campaign server straight to Rory's personal terminal."
"What did the message say?" Isabel asked, leaning forward on her elbows.
"Thompson was instructing Rory to maintain maximum pressure on Baxter," Darius explained, setting his coffee mug down with a soft click.
"He explicitly told Rory to keep whispering in Baxter's ear, making him convince me that the historic freeze had turned the Charleston harbor project into a financial liability.
To make the exit strategy look like a lifesaver, South Coast Hotels offered to step in and buy the property off our hands for the exact amount we originally paid for it. "
Michael's forehead lined with a worried frown as he tapped his fingers against his water glass.
"But if the historical society has a freeze on the construction permits, that block is basically dead for development.
If the Winebergs buy the land, how do they plan to get around the state-mandated heritage dig? "
"Rory asked Thompson that exact same question in his reply," Baxter chimed in, a slow, calculated grin returning to his face. "And Thompson was arrogant enough to lay out their entire exit strategy in writing."
Owen sat back against his cushion, a dark, heavy revelation clicking into place behind his eyes as he looked at Baxter. "What is their masterstroke?"
"The moment South Coast Hotels takes official ownership of the deed, they are going to publicly fire Hyrum's inspection team," Baxter revealed, his jaw tightening.
"Thompson stated they will release a press statement claiming the inspectors were corrupt, operating secretly on the payroll of a rival firm to plant fake colonial artifacts on the site to sabotage the Wayne Group's acquisition. "
"Good grief," Maggie murmured in total disbelief, shaking her head. "That is incredibly ruthless."
"It's a perfect corporate squeeze," Darius stated flatly, his expression turning thoroughly lethal.
"By framing a fake competitor for planting the artifacts, the Winebergs look like the innocent victims and saviors of the Wayne Group from all this mess at the same time.
The state division will immediately clear the historic hold on the harbor tract, Thompson clears the regulatory path, and they get to resume construction under their deep-water shipping permits while the Wayne Group walks away financially defeated. "
"Heads I win," Owen said, letting out a long, slow sigh as he recognized the family's classic, predatory pattern. It was the exact same game they had played to fracture his life ten years ago, just with a different corporate spin. "Tails you lose."
"Yes," Darius agreed, his eyes shining with a cold, triumphant intellect. "Exactly that. Only, Thompson has absolutely no idea that his digital signature is currently sitting on our secure server, giving us the exact evidence we need to end his gubernatorial run for good."