Chapter 10 - The Man in the Lobby
The private elevator glided silently down from the 68th floor, the digital floor numbers ticking backward in a steady, calming descent.
Julian Rhodes. The name echoed in my mind. It was the same man whose legal team had delivered that mysterious manila envelope to my porch earlier that day—the one containing the blueprint for dismantling Marcus and Fiona's corporate network.
The doors slid open with a soft chime into the private ground-level foyer.
The lobby was empty except for a single tall, impeccably tailored man standing near the glass doors, looking out at the rain-slicked Manhattan streets. He turned around as he heard the elevator bell, his sharp, intelligent eyes meeting mine with a quiet, confident warmth.
"Evelyn Vance," Julian said, offering a polite, respectful nod as he walked toward me. "Or should I say, Madam CEO."
I crossed my arms slightly, studying him with cautious curiosity. "Mr. Rhodes. You certainly have a habit of inserting yourself into my family's financial disasters."
Julian smiled, a genuine, disarming expression that softened the hard lines of his face. "I prefer to call it strategic intervention. When I saw predatory corporate actors like Alexander and the Vance family exploiting someone who has spent two decades serving her country and building companies from the ground up, I felt compelled to level the playing field."
"Nothing in corporate finance is ever free, Mr. Rhodes," I pointed out, my voice remaining sharp and testing. "What do you want?"
May you like
Julian stopped a few feet away, holding up a sleek digital tablet displaying a map of the Weston hills and our residential property boundaries.
"I don't want anything from you, Evelyn," Julian said softly, his voice dropping into a steady, intense register. "In fact, I want to give you something. Complete, absolute ownership of the entire Weston corridor—free and clear of every encumbrance Alexander ever attached to it. But to do that, we have to finish breaking what's left of Victor Vance's empire tonight."
