Chapter 4 - Shadows of RetaliationThree days later, the corporate restructuring was already underway, but the battle was far from over.
Victoria Sterling may have lost her executive seat, but wealth of her magnitude bought alliances in the dark corners of New York’s corporate underworld. She had spent decades cultivating relationships with ruthless hedge-fund managers and predatory creditors who owed their fortunes to her patronage.
I sat in my private office on the fiftieth floor, reviewing medical reports for Sophia. The doctors confirmed that while she was malnourished and traumatized, her spirit was remarkably resilient. She was already asking when she could paint again, and her laughter had begun to fill the penthouse halls—a sound that washed away years of phantom loneliness.
My secure line buzzed. I pressed the intercom.
“Sir,” my executive assistant’s voice trembled slightly. “Mr. Julian Vance is in the lobby. He... he says he has an emergency regarding your mother.”
I frowned. Julian was my younger cousin, a spineless sycophant who had spent his entire life riding Victoria’s coattails.
“Send him up,” I said.
A minute later, Julian burst through the double doors. He looked terrified, his designer suit wrinkled and his hair uncombed. He slammed the door behind him and locked it.
“Alexander, you’re insane!” Julian gasped, leaning against the glass partition to catch his breath. “You don’t know what Aunt Victoria is doing! She’s liquidating everything she can touch. She’s meeting with Marcus Vance.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Marcus Vance? The head of Vance Logistics? The man who tried to orchestrate a hostile takeover of our shipping division two years ago?”
“The very same,” Julian stammered, running a hand through his hair. “She’s cutting a deal with him. She’s trading our proprietary logistics algorithms and our controlling shares in exchange for a private army of lawyers and offshore protection. She’s going to burn Sterling Global to the ground before she lets you keep it.”
I stood up slowly, grabbing my suit jacket from the back of my chair. “She thinks she can sell out the company to spite me?”
“She doesn't care about the company anymore, Alexander! She wants revenge! She told me this morning that she’d rather see you ruined in federal prison than see Lauren and that child inherit a single dime!”
I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out over the sprawling skyline of Manhattan. The grey clouds of winter were parting, letting weak beams of sunlight touch the steel and glass of the city.
“Julian,” I said, turning back to him. “Did you help her?”
Julian flinched, stepping back. “I... I tried to talk her out of it! But she threatened to cut me off, too!”
“Go home, Julian,” I said coldly. “Stay out of this. If you played any part in her financial sabotage, federal investigators won’t care that you’re a family member.”
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He bolted out of the room without looking back. I picked up my phone and dialed a direct number.
“Arthur,” I said when the call connected. “Get the security detail ready. We’re paying a visit to Marcus Vance.”
