Chapter 9 - The Foreclosure
Eleanor’s arrogance died, replaced by a suffocating dread. She looked between Arthur Sterling’s ruthless expression and my cold gaze, realizing the monstrous reality of what she had done.
"Claire... darling," Eleanor stammered, stepping toward me with outstretched, trembling hands, her voice pitched in a desperate, sickeningly sweet cadence. "It was an accident last night! You know how festive dinners get... the stress of the holidays... I was only trying to correct your table manners as a mother would! We are family!"
"Do not insult my intelligence, Eleanor," I said, opening the black folder in front of me. "Last night, you called me an ungrateful little parasite. You said I lacked the breeding to understand the weight of the Vance name."
I turned a page, sliding a thick legal document across the glossy table toward Julian. It stopped right before his shaking hands.
"What is this?" Julian whispered.
"Immediate demand for full liquidation of Vance & Montgomery’s credit line," I replied. "Two hundred and fifty million dollars, payable by noon today. Since you have twenty-six million in liquid assets and negative operating cash flow, Sterling Global is executing the collateral guarantees."
Julian dropped onto the carpet, falling to his knees. "Claire, please! That’s everything! That’s the firm, the family trust, the Greenwich estate! If you do this, we have nothing! We’ll be ruined!"
"You were already ruined, Julian," I said coldly. "You were just using my forged signature to hide your criminal fraud."
Julian gasped, looking up in sheer terror. "You... you know?"
"I know everything," I said. "I am stripping you of every asset you own to satisfy the civil default. And as for the criminal forgery charges... I have a federal prosecutor waiting in the conference room next door."
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"No! Claire, no!" Eleanor shrieked, falling beside her son, clutching at the edge of the table. "You can't do this to us! I am a Vance! We have lived in Greenwich for five generations! You can't put my son in prison!"
"Watch me," I whispered.
