Chapter 2 - The 8:17 AM Phone Call**
At 8:17 the next morning, my phone began vibrating violently on the bedside table.
I was sitting at the kitchen island, drinking black coffee and reviewing a digital file sent over by my attorney, Dana Ruiz. The sun was streaming through the windows, illuminating the quiet peace of my morning.
I picked up the phone. Cressa’s name flashed across the screen, accompanied by her frantic photo. I swiped and brought it to my ear.
“Vesper! Where the hell are you? You left the breakfast dishes unwashed, and Mother is having a fit!” Cressa shrieked, her voice already pitched to a hysterical panic. But beneath the anger, there was a jagged edge of absolute terror. “Listen to me, you useless parasite, I need you to call Theron right now. Tell him to use his corporate lawyers. My company just suspended me!”
I took a slow sip of my coffee, letting the silence stretch out on the line. “Suspended, Cressa? For what?”
“An ethics investigation!” she sobbed, losing all her boardroom composure. “Internal audit flagged three vendor contracts from my department. They’re saying there’s a conflict of interest involving kickbacks and shell companies. If I’m fired for cause, my career is over! My reputation is ruined! Tell Theron to fix it! He has pull in this city!”
“Cressa,” I said smoothly, my voice calm and chillingly polite. “Why are you calling the housemaid for corporate legal advice? Surely someone earning four hundred thousand dollars a year can afford a defense attorney.”
“Don’t play games with me, you ungrateful bitch!” Cressa screamed. “My boss wouldn't even take my call! They locked my laptop and escorted me out of the building ten minutes ago! If I lose this job, I lose everything!”
“Then I suggest you start packing boxes,” I said softly, and hung up the phone.
Before the screen could go dark, my phone buzzed again. This time, it was Theron.
I answered immediately.
“Vesper, what the hell did you say to Cressa?” Theron barked without even a greeting. He sounded rushed, background noise of the office echoing through the receiver. “She’s hysterical in the lobby downstairs. Look, we have a crisis here. Cressa’s facing an integrity audit, and I need you to pull some of your old corporate restructuring contacts to—wait, are you listening to me?”
“I’m listening, Theron,” I replied, spinning my coffee mug slowly on the marble.
“Good. Now get down here to the office. Cressa needs an alibi for those vendor invoices, and frankly, after the embarrassing display you put on at my mother’s house last night, you owe this family. Stop playing house, drop whatever petty chores you're doing, and fix this.”
Silence hung heavy on the line. Theron sighed heavily, an arrogant puff of corporate superiority.
“Vesper? Did you hear me? You’re just a freeloading housewife living off my name. Act like it.”
I smiled into the phone. “Theron,” I said, my voice dropping into the razor-sharp tone I used to use when tearing apart failing corporations. “Do you remember signing the recapitalization agreement six years ago?”
There was a sudden pause on the line. The background noise of the office seemed to fade. “What are you talking about? What does that have to do with Cressa?”
“Everything,” I replied sweetly. “By noon today, you’re finally going to remember that the ‘freeloading housewife’ you spent five years diminishing still legally controls fifty-five percent of Sterling Heritage Builders. And as majority shareholder, my very first official act this morning is firing your incompetent, thieving sister from our corporate payroll—and auditing every single contract you’ve signed in the last three years.”
May you like
The line went dead silent.
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