Chapter 5 - The Corporate Execution
The sleek glass-and-steel monolith of Blackwood Global downtown was bathed in midday sunlight, but inside the forty-fifth-floor boardroom, the atmosphere was arctic.
Marcus Vance sat at the head of the mahogany table, looking smooth and self-satisfied in a custom Italian suit, addressing the panicked board of directors.
"With Adrian Blackwood indisposed at a local hospital dealing with a family medical emergency, we must act swiftly to protect our shipping assets," Vance was saying, gesturing to a stack of restructuring documents. "I move that we temporarily suspend his executive authority—"
The heavy oak doors of the boardroom didn't just open—they slammed violently against the interior walls.
Marcus froze mid-sentence.
Adrian walked into the boardroom, flanked by four armed enforcers, with me walking right beside him. The boardroom dissolved into dead, suffocating silence.
"You were saying, Marcus?" Adrian asked, his voice cutting through the room like a razor.
Vance’s face drained of color, his hands gripping the edge of the table. "Adrian... you... you should be at the hospital."
"And miss your corporate coup?" Adrian smiled—a cold, terrifying expression that didn't reach his eyes. He walked around the table, stopped right beside Vance’s chair, and dropped the manila folder filled with financial treason onto the polished wood. "You leaked my son's medical profile. You engineered his collapse. You thought my blood would be my weakness."
"You can't prove—" Vance stammered, trying to stand.
Before he could rise, Adrian slammed his palm down on the table, leaning in close. "I don't need a court of law, Marcus. I am the law in this city."
Adrian signaled Frank, who stepped forward and slapped cold steel handcuffs onto Vance’s wrists.
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"Take him down to the lower shipping vaults," Adrian commanded coldly. "And prepare the transfer documents for every single asset he owns. By nightfall, Marcus Vance doesn't exist."
As Vance was dragged screaming from the boardroom, the remaining directors sat paralyzed, staring down at their tablets in absolute terror.
