Chapter 9 - The Empress’s Wrath
Victoria returned to the manor to find Elena’s room empty. Panic set in until her private phone rang. It was Elena, calling from a police precinct in the city.
By the time Victoria arrived at the station, hell came with her. She was flanked by a team of elite lawyers and private security. When she saw Elena covered in bruises but safe, Victoria’s relief quickly transformed into a wrath so terrifying it made the police officers step back.
Elena told her everything.
The next morning, an emergency board meeting was called at the top of the Sterling Tower. Richard Vance sat confidently, expecting news of a tragic accident. Isabelle sat beside him, looking pale and nervous because her hired men had failed to find the girl.
The boardroom doors slammed open. Victoria walked in.
She did not look like a mother today; she looked like an executioner.
"Richard," Victoria said, not sitting down. "You have exactly three seconds to resign your position and surrender all your shares, or the FBI agents waiting in the lobby will arrest you for conspiracy to commit murder."
Richard choked on his coffee. "Victoria, what is the meaning of this?!"
Victoria tossed a tablet onto the table. It played an audio recording—the phone call between Richard and Isabelle, intercepted by Victoria's corporate espionage team overnight.
Isabelle stood up, trembling. "Mother, please, it was his idea! I didn't want to hurt her!"
"You are not my daughter," Victoria said, her voice colder than the Chicago winter. "You never were. You are a parasite."
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Victoria gestured to the door. Two armed guards walked in. "Isabelle, you are being completely disinherited. Your credit cards are frozen. The clothes you are wearing are the last things you will ever own on my dime. Escort her out of my building."
Isabelle screamed and sobbed as she was dragged out of the boardroom, her cries echoing down the glass hallways as the board members watched in stunned, terrified silence.
