Chapter 4 - The True Master of Vance Construction
The boardroom on the forty-second floor of the Vance Tower was suffocatingly quiet.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the city skyline was cloaked in heavy gray mist, matching the bleak mood inside the room. Gathered around the thirty-foot smoked-glass table were the board members: five seasoned venture capitalists, two independent directors, and Walter Higgins, the chief financial officer, who looked as if he hadn’t slept in forty-eight hours.
At precisely 7:58 AM, the double mahogany doors swung open.
Dominic stumbled inside.
He was drenched in sweat and rain, having been forced to run the last six blocks after a city bus refused to take him without exact cash. His wet hair clung to his forehead, his designer tie was crooked, and his dress shoes were scuffed and smeared with mud.
“I’m here,” Dominic panted, gripping the back of the executive leather chair at the head of the table. “I’m here. The meeting cannot proceed without the Chief Executive Officer.”
None of the board members smiled. None of them stood to greet him.
Harold Sterling, a veteran investor who had known Dominic’s father for thirty years, looked down at his leather ledger without acknowledging Dominic’s presence.
“Sit down, Dominic,” Harold said quietly. “You’re making a spectacle of yourself.”
Dominic collapsed into the chair, desperately scanning the faces of the men he had wined and dined for years. “Listen to me, all of you. What you received this morning from Sterling & Associates is a rogue legal play. My wife is emotionally unstable. She suffered an unfortunate… personal accident yesterday, and she’s attempting to retaliate against me through financial manipulation. Sovereign Crest’s debt covenants cannot be called arbitrarily. We have legal defenses!”
“Dominic,” Walter interrupted, his voice cracked with exhaustion. “Shut up.”
Dominic froze. “Walter? Excuse me?”
“I said shut up,” Walter repeated, sliding a thick audit folder across the glass table until it collided with Dominic’s hands. “Take a look at page fourteen. Then look at page thirty-two.”
Dominic opened the folder with shaking fingers.
Spread across the pages were dozens of wire transfers, corporate expense accounts, and unauthorized ledger entries from the past eight months.
Every single trip he had taken with Paige Caldwell. The penthouse in Aspen. The shopping sprees at Cartier. The four-hundred-thousand-dollar condominium lease under an offshore LLC for Paige’s personal residence.
All of it had been drawn directly from the escrow accounts provided by Sovereign Crest Holdings—escrow accounts explicitly earmarked for commercial development and worker pensions.
“This is embezzlement, Dominic,” Harold said coldly. “In the eyes of the law, you diverted corporate recapitalization funds to subsidize your personal mistress. When Sovereign Crest’s forensic accountants flagged these discrepancies three months ago, they didn't sue immediately. They waited. They documented every single dollar.”
Dominic’s heart plummeted. *Three months ago?*
Audrey had known about Paige for three months?
She had sat across from him at breakfast every morning, pouring his coffee, listening to his complaints about supply chain delays, smiling softly while he lied about late-night project reviews—and all the while, she was quietly building a financial gallows around his neck.
“Audrey… Audrey wouldn’t do this,” Dominic stammered, his bravado crumbling completely. “She loves me. She’s just angry. If I can just speak to her, we can settle this internally!”
The double doors of the boardroom swung open once again.
Every board member stood up immediately.
Dominic turned, expecting Sophia Sterling.
Instead, stepping into the room was a woman who took the air straight out of his chest.
It was Audrey.
She wasn’t wearing the simple cotton cardigans or the worn sneakers she wore around the house. She wore a bespoke ivory wool suit, tailored with razor-sharp lines, paired with black Christian Louboutin heels that clicked rhythmically against the hardwood perimeter of the room. Her dark hair was styled into an elegant, swept-back chignon, revealing the delicate diamond studs at her ears.
Her skin was pale, and beneath her foundation, a faint shadow of a bruise remained near her hairline—a haunting reminder of the staircase. But her eyes were not the eyes of a broken victim. They were cold, radiant, and utterly merciless.
Flanking her were Sophia Sterling and two high-ranking corporate attorneys from Manhattan.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” Audrey said smoothly. Her voice was musical, yet it carried the weight of an iron vault slamming shut.
“Audrey!” Dominic cried out, half-rising from his chair. “Audrey, my God! You’re alright! Listen to me, please—!”
Audrey didn’t even look in his direction. She walked straight past him, her eyes fixed on the empty seat directly opposite the CEO’s chair. Sophia pulled the chair out, and Audrey sat down with fluid, regal grace.
“Harold. Walter. Thank you for accommodating this emergency session on such short notice,” Audrey said, opening her slim leather portfolio.
Harold Sterling gave an appreciative nod. “The floor is yours, Ms. Montgomery.”
*Ms. Montgomery.* Not Mrs. Vance.
“Audrey, stop this!” Dominic pleaded, leaning across the table, his knuckles white. “I know you’re hurt. I know what my mother did was unforgivable. I swear to you, I will make her apologize! I’ll send her away! We lost our child, Audrey! We are grieving together! You don’t have to destroy our family’s company!”
Audrey slowly lifted her gaze. When her eyes met his, Dominic felt a chill race straight down his spine. There was no hatred in her gaze. Hatred required passion.
There was only complete, devastating indifference.
“Our child?” Audrey said quietly, the words dropping like stones into the silent room. “You didn't want a child with me, Dominic. You wanted an ornament. And when your mother pushed me down the stairs, you weren’t at the hospital holding my hand. You were dining on beluga caviar and drinking vintage champagne with Paige Caldwell.”
The board members shifted uncomfortably, several of them casting looks of pure disgust at Dominic.
“That was a mistake!” Dominic stammered. “I didn't know! I swear on my life I didn't know you were hurt!”
“You didn't care,” Audrey replied simply.
She turned her attention back to the board. “Gentlemen, Sovereign Crest Holdings currently holds sixty-two percent of Vance Construction’s common stock and ninety percent of its secured debt obligations. Under Section 8 of the debt covenant, upon evidence of material fraud and fiduciary embezzlement, the majority shareholder holds the unilateral right to dissolve the board, remove the chief executive, and initiate immediate asset liquidation.”
Audrey slid three notarized proxy documents to Harold.
“Effective immediately, Dominic Vance is terminated as Chief Executive Officer. His voting shares are surrendered to cover the thirty-two million dollars in misappropriated funds. He is stripped of all corporate titles, benefits, and indemnifications.”
“You can’t do that!” Dominic screamed, slamming his hands onto the glass. “This company has my father’s name on the building! You can’t erase me!”
Audrey closed her portfolio with a crisp, definitive snap.
She stood up, looking down at him from across the table.
“Your father was a decent builder who ran a mediocre business, Dominic. You are a mediocre man who ran a decent business into the ground. Your name comes off the building by Friday.”
She turned to Sophia. “Have security escort Mr. Vance off the premises. If he resists, contact the district attorney’s economic crimes division. The embezzlement files are already prepped for indictment.”
“Understood,” Sophia nodded.
Two massive security guards in black suits stepped through the doors, moving directly toward Dominic.
“Audrey!” Dominic shouted, his voice cracking into a desperate shriek as the guards grabbed him by the elbows, lifting him out of the leather chair. “Audrey, please! Look at me! You loved me! You promised to love me forever!”
Audrey didn’t turn around. She didn’t flinch.
May you like
She simply walked toward the panoramic window, looking out over the city, leaving Dominic to be dragged down the carpeted hallway, kicking and screaming like a petulant child whose stolen kingdom had turned to dust.
***
