Chapter 3 - DUST TO DUST
Grant’s mind reeled. “What are you talking about?! Evelyn is an orphan! She’s an interior designer who made $60,000 a year!”
“Evelyn Vale was an alias,” the receiver replied coldly, checking her watch. “You have twenty-eight minutes. Security guards are stationed outside to ensure you do not remove any art, silverware, or jewelry purchased with Vance Trust funds.”
Panic, raw and suffocating, seized Grant. He grabbed Victoria by the arm and dragged her to his Porsche in the driveway. But as he pressed the remote start, the engine remained dead. A flatbed tow truck was already backing down the driveway.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Grant screamed at the tow truck driver.
“Vehicle repossessed by Vance Auto Leasing, sir,” the driver called out, linking the chains to the frame. “Orders from the executive office.”
Left with no choice, Grant and Victoria were forced to carry two small duffel bags and walk out through the iron gates on foot, shivering in the freezing morning mist—the exact same spot where Evelyn had stood mere hours ago.
“This is a mistake, Grant!” Victoria shrieked, her expensive coat dragging through the mud. “Call your corporate partners! Call Vance Global!”
“I’m going to the headquarters now!” Grant gritted his teeth, pulling out his phone to call an Uber using his last working personal debit card. “The CEO of Vance Global is arriving today for our merger meeting. When I tell him what’s happening, he’ll fix this. The Vance family has always backed us!”
An hour later, Grant arrived at the glass skyscraper of Vance Global Holdings in downtown Manhattan. He bypassed security using his executive badge, marching toward the top floor board room. Victoria followed closely behind, trying to smooth her disheveled hair and regain her aristocratic poise.
“I need to see the CEO immediately!” Grant shouted to the executive assistant sitting outside the boardroom. “I have a $500 million merger to finalize!”
The assistant looked at Grant with a mixture of cold disdain and pity. “The CEO is waiting for you inside, Mr. Vale. She’s expecting you.”
Grant straightened his tie, turned to his mother with a smirk, and said, “See? It was just a system glitch. Watch how real power operates.”
He pushed open the double glass doors and walked into the boardroom.
Sitting at the head of the long oak table, dressed in a tailored black suit, her hair pulled back into an immaculate crown, sat Evelyn. Beside her sat two armed guards and a team of twenty corporate lawyers.
Grant froze. His jaw dropped. “Evelyn? What the hell are you doing sitting in the CEO’s chair?! Security! Get this crazy woman out of here!”
May you like
Evelyn slowly lifted her eyes from her tablet. The soft, submissive wife Grant had known for five years was completely gone. In her place sat a queen made of ice and iron.
“Sit down, Grant,” Evelyn said, her voice terrifyingly calm. “We have business to discuss.”
