Chapter 3 - The Ghost in the Shadows
By dawn, the media frenzy had ignited. Tabloids ran headlines screaming of scandal: Billionaire Heir Chooses Housekeeper Over Steel Heiress. Stock prices for Vance Enterprises fluctuated wildly as the market opened on Wall Street.
Inside the Vance boardroom, Julian’s uncle, Arthur Vance, slammed a stack of morning papers onto the glass conference table.
"You’ve turned our legacy into a soap opera, Julian!" Arthur barked, his face crimson. "The Sterling merger was supposed to inject fifty million in liquidity into our manufacturing division! And you cast her out like a criminal in front of every senator and CEO in the state!"
"Victoria was embezzling from that very division," Julian countered calmly, tossing a thick dossier onto the center of the table. "For eighteen months, her shell companies systematically diverted funds from our safety inspections. That wasn't a merger, Arthur. It was a planned corporate salvage operation."
The room went dead quiet. Arthur’s eyes scanned the audit reports, his posture slowly deflating.
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"And what about the girl?" another board member asked cautiously. "The child?"
"Her name is Clara Ellis," Julian replied with steady authority. "She is carrying my child. And she will be treated with the honor and legal protections due to the future mother of the Vance heir. If anyone in this room thinks otherwise, submit your resignation before lunch."
