Chapter 7 - The Boardroom Execution
The boardroom of Sterling Enterprises sat on the top floor of their Midtown tower. The mahogany table was surrounded by ten older men in tailored charcoal suits, all of them sweating through their collars as the stock ticker on the corner screen flashed bright, continuous red.
Lucas was at the head of the table, his tie slightly crooked, shouting into a speakerphone. Naomi sat in a chair by the window, looking pale beneath her heavy makeup, scrolling through thousands of hate comments on her social media accounts.
"I don't care what the zoning commissioner said!" Lucas roared. "We have the mayor's endorsement! We push the vote forward today, or—"
The heavy double doors of the boardroom swung open.
The room went dead silent.
Audrey Miller walked in.
She wore a sharply tailored emerald-green pantsuit that highlighted every elegant line of her frame. Her dark hair was pulled back into a sleek, severe ponytail, revealing the high cheekbones of her face and the cool, steady fury in her amber eyes. There was no trace of the broken, weeping woman Lucas had dragged across the Plaza ballroom.
Behind her walked Daniel Vance, towering, immaculate, flanked by three senior partners from the city’s most prestigious corporate law firm.
Lucas stood up so fast his leather chair crashed against the wall. "What the hell is this? Security! Get this woman out of here!"
"Touch her, and you'll be arrested for corporate obstruction, Mr. Sterling," Daniel said, his voice echoing with absolute authority. "Audrey Miller holds voting proxy for twenty-five percent of Sterling Enterprises. And Vance Holdings has just finalized the acquisition of an additional eighteen percent as of nine o'clock this morning."
A collective gasp rippled through the board members.
"That's forty-three percent," one of the senior directors stammered, looking at Lucas in horror. "Lucas... what did you do?"
"She has no standing!" Naomi shrieked, jumping to her feet, pointing a trembling, manicured finger at Audrey. "She’s a crazy, violent bitch! She attacked me! The board can't listen to her!"
Audrey didn't even look at Naomi. Naomi was an insect; Audrey had come to slay the monster.
Audrey walked straight to the center of the table, unrolling a large set of blueprints and slamming them down. The crisp sound cracked like a whip through the room.
"Gentlemen," Audrey said, her voice clear, commanding, and utterly devoid of fear. "The blueprints Lucas submitted to the city zoning board contain a critical structural defect on the 42nd-floor load distribution. If built, the east tower would fail catastrophic wind shear testing within eighteen months."
"She’s making it up!" Lucas yelled, slamming his fists on the table. "She's an unqualified housewife!"
"I am the registered copyright holder of the Horizon blueprints, registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office three years before I ever married you," Audrey replied smoothly, sliding a certified document across the table to the board chairman. "Lucas Sterling stole the preliminary drafts from my father’s archive. And under Section 12 of the corporate bylaws, presenting fraudulent intellectual property to a municipal board is grounds for immediate termination of the Chief Executive Officer."
The chairman put on his reading glasses, his hands shaking as he scanned the patent filings. He looked up at Lucas, his face ash-gray.
"Lucas... these filings are authentic."
"No!" Lucas lungs toward Audrey, his face purple with rage. "You ruined my family! You miserable little—"
Daniel stepped between them in a flash. He caught Lucas by the throat with one hand, slamming him backward across the boardroom table, scattering papers and coffee cups in an explosion of porcelain and ink.
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"I warned you," Daniel whispered, his fingers tightening until Lucas gasped for air, his eyes bulging with terror. "The next time you come near her, you leave in an ambulance."
***
