He thought he had trapped her... until the doors locked behind him.

The heavy doors in the ballroom finally gave way, splintering inward. The mob of billionaires rushed down the corridor, stopping at the steel door of the VIP vault.

"Sterling!" Silas shouted from the other side, pounding on the metal. "Can you hear us?!"

"I'm here!" Dominic yelled back. "She has the controls on a tablet! If you can breach this door, we can take her!"

Evelyn watched the door bulge slightly as they rammed a heavy bronze statue against it. She looked at her tablet. "They are quite motivated. Let's change the incentive."

She tapped the screen, unmuting the ballroom speakers.

"Attention, Vanguard Society," Evelyn announced. The pounding on the door instantly stopped. "I see you are trying to break into the vault. Let me offer a new proposition."

Dominic’s stomach tightened. "What are you doing?"

"Silas Vance," Evelyn said. "I am looking at your file. Tax evasion, embezzlement, and a rather messy cover-up of a yacht accident in Monaco. I will delete your file completely. I will let you keep your fortune. Under one condition."

Silence hung heavily in the corridor.

"What condition?" Silas’s muffled voice asked through the steel.

"Dominic Sterling is standing in this room," Evelyn said, her voice dripping with venom. "He is the architect of your misery. He brought me here. If you ensure that Dominic Sterling does not leave this building with his company intact... if you, the board of Sterling Holdings, vote to strip him of his shares right now... you walk away scot-free."

Dominic froze. "Silas, don't listen to her! She's tearing us apart!"

"It's a digital vote," Evelyn said. "Open your phones. The local intranet is active just for this. Vote him out. Strip his empire. And Silas... you get to keep yours."

"Dominic," Silas's voice came through the door, cold and calculating. "It's just business."

"Silas, you son of a—"

Dominic’s watch buzzed. An emergency alert from his board of directors. Within sixty seconds, the notifications flooded in.