Chapter 3 - The Boardroom Vultures
Three days later, I stood in the pouring rain at a small, private cemetery in Queens. I paid for the funeral in full. Lily held my hand the entire time, clutching a single white rose.
But grief is a luxury the corporate world does not respect.
The next morning, I walked into the Sterling Enterprise headquarters holding Lily's hand. I had nowhere else to put her, and I refused to leave her with a nanny she didn't know. The murmurs in the glass-walled lobby were deafening.
In the executive boardroom, my late father's former partner, Victor Vance, was sitting in my chair. Victor was a shark in a tailored suit, a man who had been plotting to take over the company since my father’s death.
"Alexander," Victor sneered, looking at Lily with absolute disdain. "Is it "Bring Your Orphan to Work" day? We have a quarterly earnings call in ten minutes."
"This is Lily," I said coldly, pulling out a chair for her and handing her an iPad. "And she is my sister."
The boardroom erupted. Executives gasped, whispering frantically.
Victor stood up, slamming his hands on the mahogany table. "Your what? Are you insane? If the press gets wind of a bastard child, the stock will plummet!"
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"Let it plummet," I fired back, my voice echoing off the walls. "If anyone in this room speaks of her with anything less than absolute respect, you will find your desk packed before security escorts you out. Am I clear?"
Victor’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. He didn't argue. He just smiled a cold, calculating smile. He had found my weakness.
