Chapter 6 - The Sister’s Betrayal
The silence in the study was so absolute that the crackle of the fireplace sounded like popping firecrackers.
Daniel crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes narrowing. “A hostile takeover of your own family’s conglomerate? Explain yourself, Victoria.”
Victoria let out a low, humorless chuckle, walking over to the bar cart and pouring herself a finger of scotch without waiting for an invitation.
“My father, Arthur Vance, is a dinosaur,” Victoria said, swirling the amber liquid in her glass. “He’s arrogant, sloppy, and blinded by his own sense of untouchable dynastic privilege. For years, he’s promised to hand over the CEO chair of Vance Logistics to me. But last month, I found out the truth: he was planning to pass the entire empire to our cousin Marcus, leaving me with a golden parachute and a pat on the head.”
She took a sip of the scotch, her eyes flashing with ice-cold ambition.
“So, when Emily here went rogue and stole our encrypted financial ledgers, I didn't try to stop her,” Victoria continued, turning her gaze directly back to Emily. “In fact, I made sure the internal security logs pointed right toward her escape route, hoping she’d disappear safely out of the country with the evidence.”
Emily stared at her former legal superior in absolute shock. “You... you let me escape?”
“I needed my father and my idiot sister to sweat,” Victoria said bluntly. “I needed them to commit enough corporate crimes trying to hunt you down that the board would have no choice but to oust them. But tonight, Vanessa blew up the plan by staging that pathetic public spectacle in the foyer and drawing the attention of every billionaire and politician in the city—including you, Mr. Hawthorne.”
Daniel stared at Victoria, weighing every word. “So what do you want?”
“I want the encrypted flash drive Emily has in her satchel,” Victoria said smoothly. “In exchange, I will hand over my father’s personal signed ledgers—documents that implicate him directly in bribery, wire fraud, and the cover-up of David Chen’s car crash.”
Emily stood up from her chair, her voice shaking with righteous fury. “David Chen was murdered! You want to trade his life for a corporate title?”
May you like
“No, Miss Porter,” Victoria said, her voice suddenly dropping all warmth, replaced by a sharp, lethal edge. “I want to put my father and my sister in federal prison for the rest of their lives, and I want you and Mr. Hawthorne to help me do it legally. With me as the new CEO of Vance Logistics, our companies can merge shipping and logistics under a clean, unblemished banner. It’s a win-win.”
---
