Chapter 9 - THE WALL STREET RECKONING
The boardroom of Cole Enterprises was located on the eightieth floor, wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass that overlooked the entire Manhattan skyline. When Nathan and Emma walked through the double mahogany doors, the air in the room instantly turned freezing cold. The emergency shareholder meeting was already in session, and the tension was thick enough to cut with a scalpel.
Sitting at the head of the table was Harrison Vance, Nathan’s oldest and most trusted senior vice president. Harrison looked up, a smug, venomous smile spreading across his perfectly manicured face. He had already gathered the necessary proxy votes to strip Nathan of his CEO title.
"Nathan, you are late," Harrison sneered, adjusting his expensive silk tie. "The board was just discussing the massive, unprecedented debt crisis you have steered this company into. Obsidian Holdings is foreclosing on our assets at noon, and we have no choice but to accept their buyout terms."
"You mean Claire's buyout terms, Harrison," Nathan said loudly, his voice echoing off the glass walls. The entire board of directors gasped, murmuring in confusion and sudden, palpable panic. Harrison’s smug smile faltered for a fraction of a second, but he quickly recovered his composure.
"That is an absurd, desperate accusation," Harrison scoffed, looking around the table to rally his supporters. "Claire Whitmore is a convicted felon serving time in a maximum-security facility. If you are going to resort to hysterical conspiracy theories, security will escort you out."
Emma stepped forward, slamming a massive leather briefcase down onto the center of the polished wooden table. "She is a convicted felon who promised you the CEO position in exchange for laundering her hidden money," Emma stated fiercely. She opened the briefcase, revealing hundreds of printed bank statements, wire transfers, and handwritten letters.
"We visited the private vault this morning," Thomas Sterling added, stepping into the room with two armed federal agents. "Inside, we found the original incorporation documents for Obsidian Holdings, signed by Claire Whitmore and notarized by you, Harrison. We also found the burner phone records proving you orchestrated the hit on Peter Lang last night."
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Harrison’s face drained of all color, his eyes darting frantically toward the private elevator behind him. He lunged out of his expensive leather chair, desperately trying to make a run for the exit. The federal agents tackled him to the plush carpet before he could take three steps, violently twisting his arms behind his back.
"You're dead, Cole!" Harrison screamed, spitting on the floor as the handcuffs clicked tightly around his wrists. "Claire will never stop! She will burn this entire empire to the ground from the inside of her cell!" "No, she won't," Nathan replied coldly, staring down at the pathetic traitor. "Because the FBI just raided her cell ten minutes ago, and her new racketeering charges carry a mandatory life sentence."
