Chapter 4: The Boardroom War
Chapter 4: The Boardroom War
By 9:00 AM the following morning, the corporate headquarters of Beaumont Logistics was in a state of absolute chaos. News of the ballroom incident had already begun to leak through high-society gossip blogs, though Dominic’s team had managed to keep the photograph out of the press for now.
Charles sat at the head of the glass boardroom table, flanked by his legal team. Across from him sat his father-in-law, Arthur Sterling—a brutal, old-money billionaire who had controlled the city’s financial sectors for forty years. Victoria sat beside her father, her eyes red from a sleepless night of rage.
"You’ve lost your mind, Charles," Arthur Sterling said, tapping his gold-headed cane against the marble floor. "A mistress’s child? A server from a catering company? You think you can just hand over twenty percent of the Sterling-backed operational shares to a street girl? I will pull our bank guarantees before the ink on your press release dries."
"She isn't a mistress’s child, Arthur," Charles said, sliding a certified document across the table. "This is my original marriage certificate to Evelyn Vance, dated two years before I ever met Victoria. The marriage was never legally dissolved in the state of Georgia; my father merely forged the separation papers to appease you. Technically, by provincial law, my marriage to your daughter is vulnerable to an annulment dispute."
Victoria gasped, clutching her father’s arm. "Daddy, do something! He’s trying to invalidate our entire life!"
Arthur Sterling’s eyes narrowed into slits. "You think you’re the only one with lawyers, boy? If you go public with this, I will launch a predatory short-sale on Beaumont Logistics stock. I will buy up your debt through my shell companies and foreclose on your shipping vessels before the weekend. You’ll be broke, Charles. And your precious daughter will go right back to the gutter she came from."
The boardroom doors opened suddenly.
Maya walked in, accompanied by Dominic. She was no longer wearing her stained waitress uniform. She wore a simple, elegant charcoal-grey suit that Charles’s assistant had provided, her hair tied back neatly. The bruise on her cheek was covered with light makeup, but the fierce, unyielding look in her hazel eyes was completely exposed.
"She won't be going back to any gutter, Mr. Sterling," Maya said, her voice echoing off the glass walls with a calm authority that startled the executives.
"Who let this creature in here?" Victoria shrieked.
Maya walked directly to the table, placing a small, old leather savings book down in front of Arthur Sterling. "My mother kept everything, Mr. Sterling. Including the letters your father's lawyers sent her twelve years ago, threatening her life if she ever showed her face in Chicago. She didn't keep them for blackmail. She kept them because she wanted me to know exactly what kind of monsters lived in the high towers of this city."
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She looked at Charles, her eyes softer now. "I spent the morning reviewing the Beaumont corporate structure with Dominic’s legal friends. You don't need the Sterling bank guarantees, Father. The original charter of Beaumont Logistics states that the port land in Savannah—the very land your entire shipping network relies upon—was inherited through my maternal grandfather, Thomas Vance. It was leased to the Beaumonts for ninety-nine years. And as the sole surviving heir of the Vance line... I own the land beneath your ships."
The boardroom fell into an absolute, stunned silence. Arthur Sterling’s cane slipped from his fingers, clattering loudly against the floor.
