Chapter 6 - The Burned Silk
Victoria stared at Charlotte, completely bewildered by the bruised and dirty woman standing in the doorway.
"How on earth did you get down here, you filthy rat?" Victoria sneered, clutching the master deed tightly.
Charlotte did not waste time exchanging insults with the woman who had humiliated her.
She charged forward, her eyes locked onto the thick parchment that held her entire future.
Victoria shrieked and tried to throw the document into the roaring flames of the incinerator.
Charlotte lunged desperately, grabbing Victoria’s wrist just inches away from the blazing fire.
The intense heat singed the edges of Charlotte’s hair, but she absolutely refused to let go.
Victoria fought back with vicious ferocity, digging her sharp nails deeply into Charlotte’s bleeding arm.
"You are nothing but a ghost, Charlotte!" Victoria screamed over the roar of the machinery.
"Richard is going to own this city, and you are going to burn right here in this basement!"
Charlotte felt a sudden, powerful surge of pure adrenaline and righteous anger.
She was no longer the frightened girl who had allowed herself to be dragged across the lobby floor.
Charlotte twisted Victoria’s arm forcefully, using the momentum to slam the socialite into the metal railing.
Victoria gasped in pain, accidentally dropping the master deed onto the dirty concrete floor.
Charlotte dove for the document, but Victoria kicked her brutally in the ribs with her expensive high heel.
Charlotte rolled away, coughing violently as she clutched her bruised side.
Victoria grabbed a heavy iron fire poker from the rack and swung it wildly at Charlotte’s head.
Charlotte ducked just in time, the heavy iron smashing into the brick wall behind her.
Using her low position, Charlotte swept her leg out and struck Victoria’s ankles hard.
The glamorous socialite lost her balance completely and crashed to the floor in a heap of tangled white silk.
Charlotte immediately scrambled forward and snatched the master deed from the ground.
She held the thick parchment against her chest, her breathing heavy and ragged.
Victoria lay on the dirty floor, her pristine white gown completely ruined by grease and soot.
Instead of looking defeated, Victoria began to laugh hysterically, an ugly, grating sound.
"You are a fool, Charlotte, you are entirely too late," Victoria cackled with pure malice.
Suddenly, the crackle of the hotel’s public address system echoed through the loud utility room.
Richard’s smooth, confident voice boomed from the overhead speakers for the entire building to hear.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the press, thank you for joining us in the grand ballroom tonight."
"It is my great honor to officially sign the Solmere Empire over to the Global Apex Syndicate."
Charlotte realized with horror that the physical deed was merely a backup plan for Richard.
He was legally signing the company away on live television right at this very moment.
If the ink dried on those public contracts, the master deed in her hands would become completely worthless.
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Charlotte tucked the document into her waistband and sprinted toward the freight elevator.
She had exactly two minutes to stop the biggest corporate theft in modern history.
