Chapter 6 - Shadows in the Boardroom
The boardroom of Sterling Global was situated on the sixty-fourth floor of Manhattan’s tallest glass spire. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city stretched out like an ant farm, but inside, the tension was thick enough to suffocate.
The emergency board meeting had been called at Julian’s command. Twelve senior board members, representing billions of dollars in global capital, sat around the oval marble table. Eleanor sat at the head, her chin held high, wearing a pristine emerald silk suit. Marcus sat to her right, fingers drumming nervously against his leather folder.
"Julian," Eleanor addressed the room, her voice projecting absolute maternal authority. "Given the tragic domestic events of the past forty-eight hours, the board feels you are emotionally unfit to steer the upcoming merger with the Parisian consortium. We are voting today to temporarily assign CEO powers to Marcus."
Murmurs of agreement rippled across several older board members loyal to Eleanor.
Julian remained standing at the opposite end of the room. He clicked a button on the handheld remote.
The giant presentation screens along the wall flickered to life. Instead of financial projections, an offshore banking statement appeared. Accounts in the Cayman Islands, dummy corporations based in Panama, and transaction logs totaling over four hundred million dollars scrolled before their eyes.
"What is the meaning of this?" Marcus demanded, his face turning an ugly shade of crimson.
"This is the money you and my mother have been embezzling from the Sterling employee pension fund for the past seven years," Julian stated, his voice ringing with cold authority. "Stored under shell companies titled 'Vance Holdings' and 'EM Investments.'"
The room erupted into shouts of outrage. Board members began yelling over each other, demanding explanations.
Eleanor stood up abruptly, slamming her palms on the table. "This is a fabrication! Julian is suffering from acute grief psychosis! He is trying to sabotage his own family!"
"Every document on that screen has been verified by the Federal Financial Crimes Commission," Julian countered smoothly, stepping toward the center of the table. "I handed the file to the Deputy Attorney General thirty minutes ago. By now, the freeze on your assets is already active."
Eleanor’s composure shattered. Her diamond earrings shook as her head snapped toward Marcus. "Marcus! What did you do?"
"Me?" Marcus hissed back, panicking. "Arthur assured us the dummy accounts were untraceable!"
"Nothing is untraceable when the CEO has top-level forensic access," Julian said coldly. He turned to the board members. "Under Section Four of the corporate bylaws, any board member under active federal investigation for grand larceny is immediately stripped of voting rights and executive authority."
The board members, terrified of being dragged into a federal scandal, looked away from Eleanor. One by one, hands began to raise.
"All in favor of removing Eleanor Sterling as Chairwoman and Marcus Sterling as Vice Chair, raise your hand," Julian announced.
Ten hands went up. Absolute majority.
Eleanor sank slowly into her leather chair, her gaze fixed on her son with burning hatred. "You think you've won, Julian? You think taking away my titles changes anything? That child of yours won't survive the week. And when she dies, your father’s will still stands. The company defaults to the estate trustee—which is managed by Arthur Vance."
Julian walked up to his mother, placing both hands on the arms of her chair, trapping her within his gaze. "Then you better pray that little girl lives, Mother. Because if she dies, I will have nothing left to lose. And a man with nothing left to lose will make sure you spend the rest of your life in a six-by-eight concrete cell."
His phone buzzed violently in his inner pocket.
May you like
Julian pulled it out. It was a message from Dr. Thorne at St. Jude’s:
Claire is awake. She’s asking for you. But you need to see the NICU right now.
