Chapter 2 - The First Wave
Clara lowered her phone. She slowly lifted her chin, locking her gaze onto Julian.
Julian chuckled arrogantly, taking a sip of his scotch. "Who did you call, Clara? Your old college friends? Are they coming to pick you up in a beaten-down hatchback?"
Chloe giggled, burying her face into Julian’s shoulder. "Julian, darling, don't be so mean. Maybe she called a rideshare service!"
The room erupted into another round of cruel laughter.
Clara didn't answer. She simply wiped the remaining moisture from beneath her eyes, stood tall, and pulled the silver diamond ring from her finger. She dropped it into Julian’s crystal glass with a sharp clink.
"Keep the glass, Julian," Clara said calmly, her voice no longer shaking. "You're going to need something to hold your tears in an hour."
Before Julian could respond, the heavy double doors of the grand ballroom burst open.
A team of ten men in matching charcoal suits marched into the room with military precision. At the head of the procession was Arthur Pendelton, the senior managing partner of Sterling Law—the most feared corporate attorney firm in the hemisphere.
The cheerful music stopped abruptly. The crowd fell silent as Arthur walked straight past the high-society elites, paying no attention to Julian or the board members, and stopped directly in front of Clara.
Arthur bowed deeply. "Miss Sterling. We received your brother's summons. The legal tactical team is fully deployed."
Miss Sterling?
Julian stared at the attorney, his smirk faltering slightly. "Wait... Arthur Pendelton? What are you doing here? You represent Sterling Global. This is a private party for Vance Financial!"
Arthur slowly turned around, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses, looking at Julian as if he were a bug under a microscope.
"Mr. Julian Vance," Arthur said, his voice echoing across the quiet room. "You were under the delusion that Vance Financial was floating on its own merit. You believed the eighty-million-dollar capital injection your firm received three years ago came from an anonymous venture capitalist group."
Julian’s face paled slightly. "It... it did! Horizon Holdings!"
"Horizon Holdings is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sterling Trust," Arthur declared coldly. "And the sole beneficiary of the Sterling Trust is sitting right beside me. The woman you just publicly humiliated is Clara Sterling—the true owner of sixty-two percent of your company's equity."
A sharp, collective gasp rippled through the ballroom like an electric shock.
Board members dropped their glasses. Chloe Dupont’s jaw dropped open as she unclasped her hand from Julian’s arm as if his sleeve were on fire.
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"No... no, that's impossible!" Julian stammered, his face losing all color. "She's a teacher's daughter! She drove a secondhand sedan when I met her!"
"She wanted a quiet life, you utter fool," Arthur replied with cold disdain. "And you traded the ocean for a puddle."
