Chapter 10 - Unmasking the Queen
Wood splinters rained down across the polished marble boardroom table, sending half the directors leaping out of their leather chairs with gasps of terror.
Through the dust and splintered mahogany strode Ethan Vance.
His deep burgundy suit was shredded at the shoulder, soaked in dried blackish-red blood, his face streaked with soot and sweat. In his right hand, he carried no briefcase, no legal files—only the sheer, suffocating aura of a man who had climbed out of the grave to collect a debt.
Tightly clasped in his left hand was five-year-old Lily. She walked beside him with her head held high, wearing an oversized black wool coat Ethan had wrapped around her ruined dress, the ancient silver signet ring resting proudly over her chest.
Behind them, two tactical officers in unmarked gear sealed the broken entryway, assault rifles held in low-ready positions.
Arthur Sterling froze at the head of the table. The pen in his hand slipped, tapping against the mahogany surface before rolling off the edge. His refined, aristocratic face drained of color until he resembled a marble statue.
""Ethan..."" Sterling breathed, his voice catching in his throat. ""You're... this is impossible. The news reports confirmed—""
""The news reports confirmed what you paid them to broadcast, Arthur,"" Ethan said, his voice echoing with devastating clarity off the glass walls.
He walked slowly down the length of the fifty-foot table. Every single board member shrank away as he passed, terrified by the cold ferocity radiating from his eyes.
""You set the fire,"" Ethan continued, stopping ten feet from the podium. ""You hired Victoria to starve this child in the dark. You promised Julian a fortune you had already stolen, and you deployed your private death squads to gas my manor.""
""Preposterous!"" Sterling shouted, attempting to rally his composure as he slammed his palm onto the podium. ""Security! Remove these intruders! This man is legally deceased! His identification has been flagged for corporate espionage! He has no authority in this room!""
None of the corporate security guards moved. From the back of the room, Marcus Vance stepped forward, holding an encrypted satellite uplink terminal connected directly to the Federal District Court.
""Their authority is absolute, Arthur,"" Marcus stated coldly. ""The biometric wipe you executed at 4:00 AM was logged on the municipal transit servers beneath City Hall. We found the brass book your couriers tried to burn three years ago.""
Lily took a step forward, letting go of Ethan’s hand. She pointed a tiny, steady finger straight at Sterling’s chest.
""You're the bad man who came to Mommy's hospital room,"" the child said, her clear voice ringing through the suffocating silence of the boardroom. ""You took Mommy's hand and pressed it onto a blank piece of paper while she was crying. You told her if she didn't sign, you would make sure I never woke up.""
May you like
Whispers erupted around the boardroom table like wildfire. Several older directors looked at Sterling with disgust and horror.
Sterling’s facade finally shattered. The polished, dignified attorney vanished, replaced by a snarling, desperate beast. He reached into the open drawer beneath the lectern.
