Chapter 4 - The Boardroom Execution
The sixty-fourth floor of the Vanguard Tower in Manhattan was suffocatingly tense. The mahogany conference table was ringed by twenty-two executive directors, several of whom had spent the last three hours glued to their smartphones, witnessing the viral video of Daniel throwing boiling broth over Maya.
The double glass doors swung open.
Maya entered, dressed in a sharply tailored charcoal suit that hid the bandage covering her left shoulder. Her hair was pulled back into an immaculate, tight chignon. Her eyes were hard, unreadable, and devoid of the trauma her attackers had tried to inflict.
Beside her, Marcus set a heavy briefcase onto the table with an authoritative thud.
""Miss Lin,"" Vice Chairman Henderson stammered, adjusting his silk tie nervously. ""We were... extremely distressed to see the footage circulating on social media. Rest assured, the board has already voted to strip Daniel of his title—""
""I don't care about your vote, Henderson,"" Maya cut in, her voice slicing through the room like a razor. ""Daniel was merely a dog barking for scraps. Sit down.""
The sixty-year-old executive shrank back into his leather chair.
Maya leaned forward, resting both palms on the polished surface of the table. ""You all knew Daniel was siphoning funds. Three of you here—Henderson, Miller, and Albright—signed off on his phantom capital expenditures in Singapore.""
Albright went pale. ""Those were legitimate operations approved by the late Chairman—""
""Arthur Vance signed nothing in Singapore,"" Maya interrupted. ""You were laundering money through Julian Vance’s offshore accounts. You thought my father's death left you free to switch allegiances.""
The room went completely still. The name 'Julian Vance' hit the room like a seismic wave. Older members of the board looked at one another in sheer terror.
""Julian is dead,"" Henderson muttered, his hands trembling violently.
""Julian is landing at JFK in forty minutes,"" Maya countered, bluffing with calculated precision. ""And when federal marshals seize his flight logs, every shell company bearing your signatures will be exposed to the Department of Justice.""
Miller stood up, knocking his chair back. ""You have no proof of our involvement!""
Marcus clicked the briefcase open and pulled out a stack of stamped affidavits. ""These are the transaction receipts seized from Daniel’s personal safe ten minutes ago. He traded your names to prosecutors the second they threatened him with maximum security.""
A cold sweat broke out across Miller’s forehead. He slowly sank back down.
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""Now,"" Maya said, her gaze sweeping across the terrified executives. ""You will authorize an emergency freeze on all outbound Singapore wires. Immediately.""
Before anyone could touch their voting terminals, the boardroom’s floor-to-ceiling glass windows shattered inward in a deafening blast of concussive force.
