Chapter 4 - The Puppet Master's Strings
The revelation of Zayn’s medical sabotage changed the nature of the war from a corporate divorce to a criminal hunt. Julian Vance worked in absolute secrecy, coordinating with state investigators to track the pharmacy records, the forged proxy signatures, and the private bank accounts Zayn had used to fund his double life.
Meanwhile, inside the Thorne-Oceanside tower, the atmosphere was collapsing into chaos. Without the Robinson shipping contracts, the subsidiary’s supply chain was paralyzed. Retailers were canceling orders for the summer line, and the board of directors was openly discussing an emergency vote of no confidence to remove Zayn from his position.
Zayn sat in his office, the blinds drawn, three empty tumblers of scotch sitting on his desk. His hair was unkempt, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at a pile of past-due notices for the brownstone's mortgage.
The door burst open, and Maya walked in, her face red, a stack of designer baby catalogs in her hand. "Zayn! The interior designer just called me! She said the deposit for the nursery renovation was declined by the bank! What is going on? My mother is coming next week, and the house looks like an office building!"
"Shut up about the nursery, Maya!" Zayn roared, slamming his glass down on the desk. "Do you have any idea what’s happening out there? The board is meeting in two hours! If I can't show them a new capitalization structure, they’re going to strip my options and throw me to the wolves!"
"Well, fix it!" Maya snapped, her vulnerability completely gone, her voice sharp and demanding. "You told me you were the one running this company! You told me Audrey was just a trophy who didn't understand the numbers! If she can take all the money just by signing a piece of paper, then you lied to me!"
"I didn't lie to you!" Zayn yelled, standing up, his frame shaking with exhaustion. "I built this infrastructure! I managed the logistics! She just drew the damn jewelry!"
"Then draw something else!" Maya screamed back. "My father is a regional director, Zayn! If your name is dragged through a public bankruptcy before this baby is born, he’ll cut me off completely! I didn't leave my apartment and risk my reputation to live in a brownstone with a defaulted mortgage!"
Zayn stared at her, the realization hitting him like a physical blow. She didn't love him. She had never loved him. She had looked at his expensive suits, his CEO title, and the Robinson fortune behind him, and she had run the numbers. She was exactly the kind of opportunist he had been—except she had played him better than he had played Audrey.
Before he could answer, his computer screen flashed with an urgent, system-wide notification: EXTRAORDINARY BOARD MEETING CALLED BY MAJORITY SHAREHOLDER. CONFERENCE ROOM A. 3:00 PM.
Zayn checked his watch. It was 2:55 PM.
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"Stay here," he ordered Maya, his voice tightening as he pulled his jacket over his shoulders. "This is it. I’m going to go down there and convince the board that we can pivot to an international distributor. I just need more time."
"You better," Maya said coldly, turning her back on him to look out the window at the gray Oceanside surf. "Because if you lose that office, Zayn, this baby isn't going to have a father with your last name."
