Chapter 3
Within hours, the entire corporate hierarchy of Vance Global Industries was thrown into an unprecedented state of total emergency. Emergency board meetings were hastily summoned in the Manhattan headquarters as news of the assault leaked to Wall Street.
Reporters and media vans swarmed the front entrance of the skyscraper, cameras flashing relentlessly against the glass facade. Inside the executive boardroom, Katherine Vance sat at the head of the polished table like an executioner ready for trial.
Chloe sat beside her, wearing a fresh white shirt, her posture straight and her expression completely devoid of mercy. Beatrice Vance sat at the far end of the table, stripped of her corporate badge, her designer blazer, and her dignity.
"You have thirty seconds to explain why I shouldn't have you arrested for aggravated assault and embezzlement," Katherine demanded coldly. Beatrice opened her mouth, but only dry, pathetic gasps emerged from her trembling, parched throat.
"The internal audit has already flagged over four million dollars in unauthorized offshore transfers under your direct authorization," Chloe added quietly. Marcus, sitting nearby in handcuffs, looked up with horrified disbelief as his own complicity was exposed.
"She forced me into it! Beatrice threatened to fire me if I didn't help cover up her financial skimming!" Marcus blurted out. "A coward's defense won't save you from a federal penitentiary sentence, Marcus," Katherine dismissed him with absolute disdain.
The legal team representing the Vance family slid thick manila folders across the walnut table toward the trembling defendants. "Sign the full asset forfeiture and guilty confession forms, or spend the next twenty years in a maximum-security prison," the lawyer stated.
Beatrice stared at the papers, realizing that her decades of ruthless corporate maneuvering had culminated in total, unmitigated ruin. With a trembling hand, she picked up the silver fountain pen and signed her own professional death warrant.
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The heavy steel doors of the boardroom opened, and federal marshals stepped inside to take Beatrice and Marcus into custody. As they were hauled away in handcuffs, Chloe watched with cold, unblinking eyes, feeling the first wave of true vindication.
The corporate empire was finally being cleansed of the toxic parasites who had weaponized it against the innocent.
