Chapter 6 - The Boardroom Coup
By 1:30 p.m., the executive boardroom on the fiftieth floor of the Vance Tower was locked down.
At my instruction, Katherine had issued an emergency, mandatory executive board meeting notice to all senior VPs, including CEO Richard Vance. No reason was given other than "urgent asset restructuring."
I sat at the absolute center of the massive, twelve-foot glass conference table. I had left Maya in the private executive daycare on the forty-sixth floor, supervised by a trusted firm associate. I wore the same navy blazer, but as I sat there flanked by Katherine and two federal marshals acting as firm security, the room felt entirely different.
The heavy mahogany double doors swung open, and Uncle Richard marched in, flanked by my brother Alan and Chloe—who had apparently insisted on tagging along to ensure Alan looked appropriately powerful.
Richard Vance was a tall, imposing man in his late fifties with silver hair slicked back and an expression of perpetual irritation. Alan walked right behind him, wearing a smug grin that vanished the moment his eyes landed on me sitting at the head of the table.
"What is the meaning of this?" Richard snapped, striding toward the table and slamming his leather briefcase down. "Katherine, I demand to know why my schedule was hijacked for an emergency meeting with... with her." He pointed a disdainful finger at me. "What is my deadbeat niece doing in the executive boardroom?"
Alan stared at me, his face turning pale. "Rachel? What are you doing here? Did you follow me? Security should have thrown her out on the street!"
Chloe fluttered into the room behind them, wrinkling her nose as she looked at my blazer. "Honestly, Richard, your family has zero boundaries. I told Alan we shouldn't have invited her to the shower—she always ruins everything."
None of them sat down. None of them noticed the two silent security guards standing beside the heavy doors.
I didn't blink. I slowly picked up a heavy gold fountain pen from the desk, letting the silence stretch across the massive room until the air grew uncomfortably thin.
"Sit down, Richard," I said, my voice cutting through the thick atmosphere like ice.
Richard bristled, puffing out his chest. "Listen to me, you ungrateful little—"
"I said, sit down," I repeated, my tone dropping into an absolute, freezing authority that made Richard pause.
Katherine Vance stood up smoothly, opening the leather portfolio in front of her and sliding three identical packets of legal documents across the glass table toward Richard, Alan, and Chloe.
"Before you start shouting, Richard," Katherine said calmly, "I suggest you open folder number one and turn to page four. Pay particular attention to the probate seal from the probate court of Cook County."
Richard frowned, snatching the papers off the table. He flipped the pages rapidly, his eyes scanning the dense legal jargon. As he read, the aggressive, arrogant flush on his face rapidly drained away, leaving behind the pale, sickly gray of a man staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.
"No," Richard whispered, his hands trembling as the papers slipped from his fingers and scattered across the table. "No... this is a forgery. Arthur's will gave me ten years! I am the successor! I built this company!"
"You didn't build anything, Uncle Richard," I said softly, standing up from my chair and leaning forward, resting my palms on the glass table. "You were just a babysitter holding my seat warm for a decade."
Alan lunged forward, grabbing a copy of the document off the table. His eyes darted across the text, his breath hitching in his throat.
"What is this, Uncle Rich?" Alan stammered, looking up in sheer panic. "What does this mean? It says... it says Vance Holdings belongs to Rachel? But what about our lines of credit? What about the funding for Blackwell & Vance?"
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I looked directly at my brother, my expression entirely devoid of mercy.
"Your funding has just been revoked, Alan."
