Chapter 3 - The Boardroom Coup and the Mistress's Sudden Exit
The shockwaves of Mr. Harlan’s announcement didn't even wait for the funeral to conclude. Before the mourners had finished filing out of St. Jude’s Chapel, Caleb’s cell phone began vibrating frantically in his pocket. He pulled it out with trembling fingers, expecting perhaps a routine corporate update, but instead received a barrage of frantic calls from his vice presidents and chief financial officers. Vance Global’s corporate security systems had just remotely revoked his security clearances, frozen his corporate credit cards, and locked his biometric access codes to the executive suite on the fiftieth floor.
Caleb spun around to face me, his calculated composure entirely shattered, replaced by raw, unadulterated panic. “Eleanor! What is the meaning of this childish stunt?” he hissed, stepping close enough to grab my arm. Before his fingers could tighten around my wrist, two towering private security guards hired by Mr. Harlan stepped smoothly between us, forcing Caleb back with immovable force. “Touch Mrs. Moretti again, Mr. Moretti, and you’ll be arrested for assault before you reach your car,” one guard warned coldly.
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Vanessa, realizing that the billionaire lifestyle she had spent months scheming to steal had just evaporated into thin air, turned on Caleb with venomous speed. “What is he talking about, Caleb? You told me her father was senile! You told me you controlled the estate!” she shrieked, her designer handbag slipping from her shoulder as she backed away from him. When Caleb tried to grab her arm to calm her down, she shoved him hard against a marble pillar, spitting, “Stay away from me, you broke fraud!” before turning on her high heels and bolting out of the chapel doors without looking back once.
I stood tall beside my father’s coffin, resting my hands on my swollen belly, watching the man who had whispered about my worthlessness moments ago now completely dismantled by his own greed. I stepped forward, looking down at him with icy calm. “You told me I was worthless without my father, Caleb,” I said softly, every word cutting through the quiet chapel. “You forgot that my father taught me how to destroy wolves. And your execution starts right now.”
