Chapter 12 - The Matriarch’s Gambit
Victoria Vance stepped onto the timber dock of Vance Cay as if she were inspecting an unruly colonial outpost. At seventy-two, she was impeccably tailored in bone-white silk, her diamond rings catching the harsh glare of noon. Flanking her were two corporate attorneys whose briefcases looked heavy with injunctions.
She didn't look at the ocean or the pristine beaches. Her cold, aristocratic eyes locked straight onto me as I stood waiting beneath the shade of the portico, flanked only by Kaelen and Julian.
"You look remarkably well for a woman who was supposed to be washed out to sea, Olivia," Victoria said, her voice dripping with aristocratic condescension.
"Survival suits me, Victoria," I replied evenly, not offering a hand. "I’d ask how your trip was, but uninvited guests don't typically warrant hospitality."
Victoria gave a delicate, cruel laugh. "Uninvited? My late husband bought this rock before you were even born, girl. You may have swindled my idiot son out of his shares while he was blinded by a cheap blonde, but you seem to forget who wrote the bylaws of the Vance Family Trust."
Her lead attorney stepped forward, presenting a thick leather-bound dossier. "Mrs. Vance, we have filed an emergency lis pendens with the federal district court. Richard had no legal standing to surrender control of Vance Cay without the unanimous consent of the senior trust advisory board—headed by Lady Victoria."
I didn't flinch. I didn't even reach for the papers. Julian simply adjusted his glasses and took them.
"Your son didn't 'surrender' control, Victoria," I said, stepping closer until I could smell the expensive French lavender water masking the woman's desperation. "He committed corporate fraud, grand larceny, and attempted manslaughter when he locked the island's emergency reserves and fled on that helicopter. The board stripped him for cause under Article 9 of your own bylaws—bylaws signed by your late husband, granting emergency executive authority to the resident surviving officer during a catastrophic event."
Victoria’s jaw clenched, a tiny crack in her porcelain veneer. "Richard made an emotional error. But you are bloodless. You stripped him of everything and left him penniless on the mainland."
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"He chose Sloane. He chose the helicopter," I said, every syllable deliberate. "And now you have stepped into my jurisdiction. If that yacht isn't refueled and outside my maritime borders by nightfall, Kaelen will impound it for unauthorized entry into private commercial waters."
Victoria’s eyes narrowed into slits of pure venom. "You think you've won, Olivia? You haven't seen the final balance sheet."
