Chapter 21 - The Emergency Board MeetingThe boardroom on the forty-fifth floor of the Sterling Tower hummed with an anxious, suffocating tension.
Twelve board members sat around the massive mahogany table. At the head of the table sat Richard Vance Jr., looking impeccably sharp in a charcoal bespoke suit, his expression a mask of manufactured concern.
“I’m sure you’ve all seen the malicious online leaks circulating over the last twenty-four hours,” Richard began, his voice dripping with false sympathy. “As acting chair of the ethics committee, I believe it is in the best interest of the company for Clara and Sienna to step down immediately to protect our stock value.”
Murmurs rippled through the room. Several board members nodded slowly, swayed by the manufactured panic.
Sienna sat rigidly to my left, her hands folded neatly in her lap.
I sat directly across from Richard, my expression entirely unreadable.
“Thank you, Richard, for your deep concern,” I said smoothly, my voice carrying clearly across the silent room.
He smiled faintly, mistaking my calm for surrender. “We only want what’s best for the family legacy, Clara.”
“I’m glad you mentioned family,” I replied, standing up slowly.
I reached into my briefcase and pulled out a sleek flash drive, plugging it directly into the boardroom’s main media console.
The massive projection screen behind Richard flickered to life.
Instead of old corporate scandals, the screen displayed financial records, wire transfer receipts, and recorded phone calls between Meridian Operations LLC and Richard Vance Jr.’s private offshore accounts.
Richard’s face lost all its color in a single heartbeat.
“What is this?” an elderly board member gasped, standing up to look closer at the screen.
“This,” I said, walking slowly toward the head of the table, “is proof that the recent online smear campaign wasn’t an outside attack. It was an inside job orchestrated by our esteemed ethics chair to force a panicked liquidation of our core assets.”
“This is a forgery!” Richard shouted, half-rising from his chair, his hands shaking as he slammed them onto the table. “She’s fabricating evidence to hold onto power!”
“Is it?” I asked calmly.
I clicked my remote. The audio of Richard’s voice—the exact raspy whisper from the extortion phone call—filled the boardroom speakers, echoing off the glass walls.
“Tell your sister to pack her bags.”
The room erupted into chaos. Board members shouted over one another, papers rustling as people demanded answers.
Richard stared at me, his mask completely shattered, revealing the desperate, cornered animal underneath.
“You’re finished,” Richard spat, grabbing his briefcase. “You think you’ve won, but you can’t stop what’s already in motion.”
“Try me,” I said softly.
May you like
Two corporate security guards stepped silently into the boardroom doors behind him, blocking his exit.
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