Chapter 9 - The Ultimatum
I didn't back down. I kept my eyes locked on his, my grip tightening around the brass paperweight.
"What's in the envelope, Adrian? Another forged proxy? Another desperate attempt to salvage a career that ended the moment you stepped onto that plane to Napa?"
Adrian stopped three feet away from me, his chest heaving as he stared at me with a mixture of rage and bitter satisfaction.
"Open it," he commanded, gesturing toward the table. "Go ahead. Look at what your precious mother signed over to me this evening while you were sitting in that empty boardroom playing CEO."
I didn't move toward the table. I watched him closely, my instincts screaming that this was a trap.
"If you have something to say, say it," I replied coldly.
"It's a full relinquishment of voting rights," Adrian spat out, his voice rising in volume, echoing off the minimalist walls. "Your mother transferred her entire thirty percent voting block to my direct management two hours ago. Combined with the shares I control through the subsidiary holdings, I now hold fifty-eight percent of Vale Meridian. You don't own the company anymore, Claire. You are a minority shareholder with zero authority, zero leverage, and zero protection."
A cold knot formed in my stomach, but I forced my expression to remain an absolute mask of indifference.
"That's legally impossible," I said steadily. "A trust transfer of that magnitude requires a sixty-day probate review and my countersignature as primary trustee."
"Not when the primary assets are held offshore in a jurisdiction where your father's trust provisions don't apply," Adrian laughed, stepping closer, closing the distance between us until I could smell the stale whiskey on his breath. "You thought you were so smart, didn't you? Walking into the office with your little legal binders and your righteous fury. But you forgot one fundamental truth about the world we live in, Claire: power doesn't belong to the person who inherits it. It belongs to the person who knows how to steal it."
May you like
He reached out, his hand shooting forward to grab my wrist, his fingers digging into my skin with brutal force.
"Now, you're going to sign the counter-petition dropping all criminal charges against me and my mother," Adrian hissed, his face inches from mine, his eyes wild and desperate. "Or I swear to God, I will strip every last penny from this estate, leave you living in a public shelter, and ensure you never see a single dime of your father's legacy again."
