Chapter 7 - The Boardroom Ambush
The 50th floor of the Bennett Tower on Fifth Avenue was silent save for the murmur of anxious, terrified men and women. Twelve board members sat around the circular glass conference table, surrounded by private security officers who had barred the exits under Marcus Vance’s direct orders.
At the head of the table sat Arthur Sterling himself.
The seventy-year-old billionaire titan was impeccably groomed in a charcoal pinstripe suit, his silver hair slicked back, an unlit Cuban cigar resting between his fingers. He had arrived unannounced, assuming his puppet Julian Thorne had secured the majority voting proxies before boarding the doomed flight.
"This is an absolute farce," Arthur drawled, looking down at his gold Patek Philippe watch. "Julian Thorne holds twenty-five percent of the voting proxies. Patricia Bennett holds another thirty percent. Between them, Apex Global has the legal authority to ratify this merger right now. Why are we waiting for a dead man's disowned daughter?"
"Because the disowned daughter owns the chair you're sitting in, Arthur," my voice rang out.
The frosted glass doors parted.
I walked into the boardroom, flanked by Marcus Vance on my left and Claire Montgomery on my right. I had shed my traveling clothes; I was now wearing a tailored black Saint Laurent suit, my mother’s platinum diamond choker resting proudly against my throat, and my father’s fountain pen tucked into my breast pocket.
The entire boardroom fell dead silent. Several board members gasped, dropping their pens.
Arthur Sterling’s eyes narrowed, his casual smirk freezing into place. "Emily. You've grown up. You have your father's stubborn eyes. But corporate governance is played with shares, my dear, not sentimentality. Patricia signed over her voting rights to me three hours ago."
"Patricia signed over nothing," Claire Montgomery announced, stepping forward and slamming a thick stack of certified legal documents onto the center of the glass table. "Patricia Bennett was arrested at 11:45 PM for grand larceny, interstate wire fraud, and accessory to attempted homicide. All of her personal assets, including any forged shares of Bennett Holdings, were seized under a federal emergency RICO warrant forty-five minutes ago."
A wave of panic rippled across the table. Two board members immediately stood up, their faces pale.
"Sit down!" Arthur barked, his voice booming across the room. He glared at me, his knuckles whitening against the armrests. "Even without Patricia, Julian holds his twenty-five percent. Coupled with my fifteen percent minority stake, we have forty percent—enough to block any corporate restructuring until the courts sort this out in three years. By then, Emily, your little airline will be bankrupt."
"Julian doesn't hold anything, Arthur," I said quietly, walking straight toward him. I placed my father’s brass key directly in front of his cigar. "Julian turned state witness twenty minutes ago to save himself from a capital murder charge."
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Arthur’s face twitched. "Murder? What nonsense is this?"
"Nurse Evelyn Cross is currently in federal custody in Queens," Marcus Vance added with cold efficiency. "She has provided the digital bank statements proving Arthur Sterling’s private family trust transferred four million dollars to her Swiss account over the past six months to supply digitalis toxins to Richard Bennett's daily infusions."
