Chapter 4 - The Eight-Thirty Arrival
At 8:15 AM, I moved from the shop floor up to the executive suite on the second floor.
I took off my high-visibility vest, replaced my work boots with a pair of sleek, five-inch black leather pumps, and slipped into the midnight-navy suit jacket from Bergdorf Goodman. I sat down behind my father’s massive mahogany desk—a desk I had officially reclaimed twenty minutes earlier after security cleared out Diane’s personal clutter.
On the desk sat four thick black binders prepared by Arthur’s legal team, alongside a sleek tablet connected to the building's high-definition security camera feed.
Beside me stood Marcus Thorne and Arthur Vance. Two uniformed security guards were stationed outside my office door, while two more stood in the glass-walled main lobby downstairs.
At 8:28 AM, the lobby camera flickered as the front doors slid open.
Diane, Lauren, Madison, and Sophie walked in together.
They were dressed in full theatrical hubris.
Lauren was wearing a bright red designer dress, swinging her car keys with an air of absolute ownership. Madison was sipping a iced latte, checking her phone. Sophie was giggling, showing Lauren something on her screen—no doubt the video of my closet being destroyed. Diane walked at the head of the group, wearing a cashmere coat and large sunglasses, looking like the queen mother inspecting her domain.
They walked straight toward the employee turnstiles.
Diane pulled out her executive keycard and tapped it against the electronic scanner.
BEEP-BEEP. A bright red light flashed on the turnstile console. The glass gates remained firmly locked.
Diane frowned, tapping it again harder. BEEP-BEEP.
Lauren stepped up, shoving her own card against the sensor. BEEP-BEEP.
“What is wrong with these cheap machines?” Lauren snapped loudly, her voice echoing off the marble lobby walls. She looked over at the front desk. “Hey! Open these gates! Our cards aren't working!”
The front desk receptionist, a quiet young woman named Ellen whom Sophie had bullied for months, didn't press the button. Instead, she looked up with an expression of calm, professional neutrality.
“I’m sorry, Miss Vance,” Ellen said clearly. “All administrative access credentials were revoked by executive order at six o'clock this morning.”
“Revoked?” Diane shouted, stepping around the turnstile barrier. “Do you know who I am? I am Benjamin Morrison’s widow! I run this office!”
Before Diane could step another foot into the lobby, two hulking security guards from Thorne Security stepped out from behind the marble pillars, blocking her path with folded arms.
“Ma’am, step back behind the line,” the lead guard instructed calmly.
“Get your hands off me!” Diane shrieked, though the guard hadn't touched her. “Where is the building manager? Call the police! There are intruders in our building!”
“There are no intruders, Mrs. Morrison,” Arthur Vance’s deep voice echoed down from the grand mezzanine staircase.
Diane stopped, her head snapping up.
Arthur walked slowly down the stairs, holding a silver pen and a thick stack of blue-bound legal folders.
“Arthur?” Diane stammered, her face turning pale beneath her makeup. “What are you doing here? Why are these thugs blocking the entrance?”
“I am here in my capacity as Chief Legal Counsel for Morrison Manufacturing,” Arthur replied, reaching the bottom of the stairs and standing behind the glass turnstiles. “And these gentlemen are here to enforce the security directive issued by the owner and Chief Executive Officer of this company.”
Lauren stepped forward, her face contorted with fury. “Catherine is not here! She’s probably crying in some cheap apartment after what—"
Lauren cut herself off mid-sentence, realizing what she was about to admit in front of security guards and staff.
“After what, Lauren?” Arthur asked mildly.
“She doesn't have the right to lock us out!” Madison yelled, dropping her iced coffee onto the tile floor in anger. “We are executives here! We have employment contracts!”
“Correction,” Arthur said, pulling four letters from his folder. “You had employment positions subject to board review and executive oversight. As of 6:00 AM today, Catherine Morrison has executed her right as sole owner to place all four of you on immediate, indefinite suspension without pay.”
“Suspension?!” Diane screamed. Her polished voice broke into a high-pitched screech that brought half the administrative staff out of their cubicles to watch from the glass balconies above. “She can’t suspend me! I built this company with Ben!”
“You joined this company eighteen months ago as a salaried office manager, Diane,” Arthur corrected her ruthlessly. “And right now, you and your daughters are required to report to the main executive boardroom on the second floor for an emergency administrative review.”
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Diane glared at the security guards, then at the staff watching from above, her chest heaving with rage.
“Fine,” she spat, adjusting her cashmere coat. “We’ll go up there. And when I’m done with Catherine, she’ll be begging me to let her keep her allowance!”
