Chapter 6
Marcus Vance sat in his dimly lit home office, staring at the thick manila folder spread across his mahogany desk. The private investigator he had hired had delivered the goods, but the contents were so staggering that Marcus initially thought it was an elaborate administrative error. According to the decrypted financial trails, corporate registration documents, and venture capital asset sheets, Liam wasn't a broke nobody at all. In fact, Liam was the sole founder of Nexus Technologies, a Silicon Valley titan that had merged with a global tech conglomerate three years prior, netting its creator a massive fortune that rivaled the entire market capitalization of Vance Global. Furthermore, Liam’s real estate holdings included prime commercial properties across the country, all held under anonymous trusts to maintain his privacy. Marcus felt a cold sweat break out across his forehead as the horrifying implications of this discovery washed over him. Arthur had spent years publicizing his disdain for Liam, publicly humiliating him, and eventually banishing Emily and her family under the arrogant assumption that they were financial parasites. If the board of directors—or worse, the media—discovered that Arthur had driven away the billionaire founder of Nexus Technologies over a petty class snobbery, the Vance Corporation's stock would plummet, and Arthur's infallible reputation would be completely destroyed. Marcus saw an opportunity not just to protect the family name, but to use this explosive secret as leverage to seize total control of Vance Global from his aging uncle. Yet, greed and ambition clouded his judgment, blinding him to the fact that playing with such massive financial forces was far beyond his manipulative capabilities. He decided to confront Liam directly before telling Arthur, hoping to coerce the quiet family man into signing away any potential retaliatory corporate claims in exchange for keeping the secret buried. The next evening, as Liam walked home from the grocery store carrying a bag of fresh vegetables, Marcus stepped out from the shadows of a quiet side street, blocking his path with an arrogant smirk plastered across his face.
