Chapter 4
"Beatrice?" Julian whispered, the name tasting like ash in his mouth. "You think my own sister would orchestrate a public scandal just to derail my career?"
Arthur walked slowly toward his desk, retrieved a slim leather-bound ledger from the top drawer, and tossed it onto the coffee table between Elena and Julian. "Beatrice has never forgiven me for naming you successor over her. She spent five years running the London branch into the ground while nursing a resentment so profound it has warped her judgment. Look at the ledger, Julian. Look at who authorized the wire transfers to Clara’s offshore account six months ago."
Elena leaned forward, her fingers trembling slightly as she opened the leather cover. She scanned the handwritten financial entries, her eyes tracing the neat, elegant script that belonged to Beatrice Vance. The numbers were staggering—hundreds of thousands of dollars funneled into a Swiss shell corporation bearing Clara's maiden name. The timing of the deposits coincided precisely with the weeks leading up to the merger announcement.
"She paid her," Elena murmured, her voice laced with disbelief. "She didn't just stumble upon the past; she weaponized it. She bought the silence, stored the photograph, and then waited for the exact moment when the television cameras and major investors were gathered in one room to pull the trigger."
Julian buried his face in his hands, groaning softly. "She destroyed us just to spite you, Dad. She didn't care that Elena was standing right beside me, that my reputation was being shredded, or that the stock price of Vance Global will plummet by morning. She just wanted to burn the kingdom down if she couldn't rule it."
Arthur stood tall, his expression turning to stone. "In this family, weakness is an invitation for betrayal, Julian. You walked right into her trap because you couldn't keep your personal life disciplined. But we are not going to curl up and die because of Beatrice’s petty vendetta. We are going to counterattack."
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Elena closed the ledger with a sharp click that resonated through the quiet study. She looked up at Arthur, her eyes burning with a newly ignited resolve. "I want no part in your family's civil war, Arthur. For years, I’ve played the dutiful corporate wife, smiling for the cameras while living in the shadow of your dynasty's endless paranoia and deceit. But if Beatrice thinks she can use me as collateral damage in her war for the throne, she has made a catastrophic mistake."
Julian looked at his wife, seeing a strength in her he had never fully appreciated. The stunning woman in the blue satin dress was no longer a victim; she was a predator waking up in the den.
