Chapter 5: The Purge
The boardroom descended into absolute chaos.
Two of the younger executives scrambled from their chairs, sprinting toward the side door. Marcus didn't even raise his gun. He simply pressed a button on his earpiece. "Perimeter breach, level 85. Secure them."
The side door flew open, and four tactical officers stormed in, tackling the fleeing executives to the floor and snapping zip-ties around their wrists.
"No! You can't do this! I didn't know about the plane!" screamed the Vice President of Marketing, sobbing as an agent pinned him to the carpet. "Richard told us it was a natural mechanical failure! I just wanted my share!"
"Ignorance is not a legal defense," Charlotte said coldly, not even glancing at the crying man.
She kept her eyes locked on her uncle. Richard had completely collapsed into his chair, his hands shaking violently as he stared at the television screen showing the FBI sweeping his empire.
"You ruined everything," Richard hissed, his facade of the charming patriarch completely stripped away, revealing the venomous snake underneath. "We built this company, Charlotte! Your mother was weak. She gave too much away to charity, to employee funds! I was saving the Solmere legacy!"
"You didn't build anything, Richard," Charlotte replied, walking slowly to the head of the table. She stood beside him, looking down at the man who had orchestrated her nightmares. "You were a parasite. Feeding off my mother's brilliance. And when she finally realized you were stealing, you killed her for it."
"She was going to fire me!" Richard yelled, spittle flying from his lips. "Me! Her own flesh and blood!"
"And now, you'll rot in a federal maximum-security cell," Charlotte said softly. "But before they take you away, I want you to do something for me."
"I'll give you nothing," Richard spat.
Charlotte leaned down, her face inches from his. "Get out of my chair."
Richard froze. He looked at the heavy leather CEO’s chair he was sitting in—the throne he had murdered his sister to claim. He looked at Charlotte's icy green eyes, realizing for the very first time that he was not looking at a terrified twenty-two-year-old girl. He was looking at a conqueror.
Slowly, humiliatingly, Richard stood up. His legs gave way, and he stumbled backward, leaning against the wall for support.
Charlotte took her seat. The leather was still warm. She turned her attention to the federal agents who were now flooding into the boardroom, reading Miranda rights to the wealthiest men in the city.
"Miss Vale," the lead FBI agent, Special Agent Reynolds, said as he approached the table. He nodded respectfully. "We have the Swiss mechanic in custody. He flipped the moment we showed him the wire transfers you sent us. The warrant covers everyone in this room."
"Take out the trash, Agent Reynolds," Charlotte said, leaning back in her mother's chair.
They dragged Richard out. He didn't fight. He was utterly broken.
As the room cleared, leaving only Charlotte, Marcus, and Agent Reynolds, the silence in the penthouse was profound. The storm had passed. The empire was hers again.
But as Agent Reynolds packed up the forged documents as evidence, his phone buzzed. He looked at the screen, and his brow furrowed in deep confusion. He looked up at Charlotte.
"Miss Vale... there's a complication," Reynolds said, his tone dead serious.
Charlotte’s eyes narrowed. "What kind of complication?"
"The wire transfers from your uncle to the assassin... they didn't come from Richard’s account," Reynolds said, scrolling furiously on his tablet. "Richard was just the middleman. The money that funded your mother's murder came from a shell corporation tied to the Sterling family."
Charlotte’s heart went ice cold.
The Sterlings. Vanessa Sterling. The obnoxious socialite who had assaulted her in the lobby wasn't just a spoiled brat. Her family was the puppet master. Richard was just a pawn.
Charlotte stood up, walking over to the shattered glass window overlooking the city skyline.
"Marcus," she said, a new, much darker war beginning in her mind.
May you like
"Yes, boss?"
"Cancel Vanessa Sterling’s eviction," Charlotte commanded, a lethal smile touching the corners of her lips. "If the Sterlings want to play in the dirt, we’re going to bury them in it."
