Chapter 5 - The Arrogance of Eleanor Reed
I pressed the speakerphone button and laid the device in the center of the mahogany conference table between Grace and me.
Grace immediately motioned to her legal associate, who began recording the audio line with an encrypted digital device.
“Samantha?” Eleanor’s shrill, imperious voice echoed through the conference room like nails scraping against slate.
“Good morning, Eleanor,” I answered smoothly, my tone devoid of anger or distress.
“I am calling to ensure that you are behaving like a rational, civilized adult this morning,” the older woman began without greeting.
“Lucas told me about your little dramatic appearance at his new home yesterday afternoon in the rain,” she sneered.
“I hope you aren't planning to embarrass this family by throwing tantrums or hiring some ambulance-chasing divorce lawyer.”
Grace raised an eyebrow, silently shaking her head in disgusted amusement while taking a slow sip of coffee.
“Eleanor, your son handed me divorce papers on our tenth wedding anniversary while standing beside his twenty-six-year-old mistress,” I said calmly.
“Do you honestly expect me to celebrate his betrayal?”
Eleanor let out an exasperated, theatrical sigh that crackled through the speaker.
“Oh, please, Samantha, stop playing the tragic martyr,” she snapped with sharp, aristocratic condescension.
“Men in Lucas’s position have needs that women who let themselves go simply cannot satisfy,” she declared brazenly.
“You haven't contributed a single thing to that household in seven years except sitting around taking Lily to ballet class.”
“My son built a billion-dollar empire while you enjoyed a life of luxury and leisure that you never earned,” she continued.
“The very least you can do now is exit his life with dignity instead of acting like a greedy gold-digger.”
I leaned closer to the microphone, feeling no pain from her words, only an absolute, diamond-hard resolve.
“I built Beacon Home Technologies with your son from a rented garage when you refused to lend him five hundred dollars for rent, Eleanor.”
“I wrote the code that made him a billionaire, and I hold the controlling super-voting shares of that company.”
Eleanor burst into a mocking, dismissive laugh that sounded like dry leaves scraping over concrete.
“Don't be ridiculous, Samantha!” she scoffed loudly.
“You are a housewife! Lucas runs the company, Lucas owns the company, and Lucas has made sure you have no legal ground to stand on!”
“If you try to fight him in court, he will cut off your credit cards, he will take Lily away from you, and he will leave you penniless on the street!”
“I am telling you this for your own good, girl: sign the settlement agreement Lucas gave you, take that house, and disappear quietly.”
“Because if you don't, I will personally testify in custody court that you are an emotionally unstable, unfit mother,” Eleanor threatened venomously.
Grace’s eyes widened with predatory excitement as she rapidly scribbled notes on her yellow legal pad: *Extortion / Custody Coercion / Direct Witness Intimidation.*
“Are you finished, Eleanor?” I asked quietly.
“I am giving you until five o'clock today to sign those papers and return them to Lucas’s office,” Eleanor barked.
“If you don't, you will face the full power of the Reed family, and you will regret the day you ever defied my son.”
“Thank you for making your position entirely clear, Eleanor,” I said with chilling composure.
“Give my regards to Lucas, and tell him to review his corporate insurance policies very carefully before noon.”
Before she could unleash another tirade of insults, I tapped the red end-call button, cutting her off mid-breath.
The conference room fell into absolute silence, broken only by the hum of the air conditioning.
Grace let out a low whistle, looking at the recording equipment with an expression of sheer legal ecstasy.
“Direct witness intimidation, third-party extortion, and explicit threats regarding child custody,” Grace summarized, tapping her pen against the pad.
“She just handed us a golden hammer in family court,” Grace smiled coldly.
“Eleanor has always believed that Lucas was an untouchable king,” I said, leaning back into my chair.
“She thinks because they wear designer clothes and attend country club galas, the laws of gravity don't apply to them.”
“We need to speak to Julian Vance,” I added, shifting the focus back to our primary target.
“Julian was with us from day one; he knows the patent structure, and his brother Kenneth is the notary on the forged loan document.”
“If Kenneth signed that attestation, Julian knows why.”
Grace nodded, signaling to her paralegal to bring up Julian Vance’s dossier.
“Julian is still the Chief Technology Officer, but our preliminary intelligence indicates he was sidelined three months ago,” Grace noted.
“Lucas brought in a hotshot VP of Engineering to oversee the foreign integration, cutting Julian’s direct operational authority.”
“So Julian is bitter, isolated, and likely terrified of what his younger brother did,” I deduced.
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“Let's find out,” Grace said, sliding a private cell phone across the table to me.
“Call your old friend, Samantha. It’s time to crack Lucas Reed’s corporate wall from the inside.”
