Chapter 11 - The Reversal of Power
"She's pinning her own father-in-law's sins on me," Julian whispered, a bitter laugh escaping his lips. "And with my father dead, there is no one left to contradict her except Arthur—and Victoria has enough dirt on Arthur's firm to bury him."
"Not quite," Clara said softly, standing tall in the center of the seaside cottage.
Both men turned to look at her. The young woman who had walked into the foyer wearing a maid's uniform had vanished. In her place stood a woman whose spine was made of iron, forged by grief and injustice.
"Arthur gave me something before the front gate was breached," Clara continued, reaching into the hidden pocket of her skirt. She pulled out a small, leather-bound ledger stamped with the crest of the Vance Maritime Corporation. "Arthur knew Victoria was planning a coup. He knew the board was meeting this morning at ten o'clock to vote on an emergency transfer of Julian’s shares to Victoria's personal trust."
Julian’s eyes widened. "The founder's ledger. It contains the primary voting proxy. Without that physical ledger, no transfer of authority can be ratified by the board of directors."
"Which means," Lucas smiled coldly, "they think you're dead or running for the border. They don't expect the legitimate heirs to show up."
"I am not an heir," Clara corrected firmly. "I am Eleanor's daughter. And I will not let that woman dance on my mother's grave while wearing a stolen fortune."
Lucas looked at Clara, a glimmer of genuine respect washing over his weathered face. "You want to walk into the Vance boardroom? It will be crawling with Victoria's hired security."
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"Let them be there," Clara answered, her voice ringing with absolute conviction. "They know how to deal with lawyers and politicians. They don't know how to deal with the ghosts they tried to starve."
Julian stood up slowly, ignoring the searing pain in his shoulder, and reached for his clean suit jacket hanging by the door. "Then we don't keep the board waiting."
