Chapter 5 - The Terms of Surrender
The room was so quiet you could hear the soft hum of the air-conditioning unit near the window.
I stood at the end of the glass table, looking down at the five people who had spent my entire life treating me like an afterthought.
"First," I announced, holding up one finger. "Uncle Howard will execute a full surrender of his remaining shares in Vane Enterprises and resign from every family board immediately. He will sell his lake house within sixty days to repay the four hundred and twenty thousand dollars he stole from my father's trust. If he misses the deadline by one hour, the criminal indictment will be filed."
Howard buried his head in his shaking hands, nodding weakly. He had no choice.
"Second," I turned my gaze to Justin. "Justin will repay the ninety-eight thousand dollars in personal expenses within ninety days. Furthermore, he will forfeit his voting rights in the family trust permanently. He will receive no further distributions until the debt is fully cleared."
Justin looked like he wanted to scream, but the cold glare from his own attorney silenced him.
"Third," I looked at Sienna and Brett. "Sienna's house in Willow Creek will be surrendered to Vane-Vanguard Capital at the end of the thirty-day notice. I will not grant an extension. You will pack your belongings and move into a rented apartment that fits your actual income, Brett—not the lifestyle you borrowed from my father's money."
"Where are my children supposed to live?!" Sienna sobbed bitterly. "Maverick has his school friends in Willow Creek! You're ruining his life!"
"Maverick needs to learn that actions have consequences," I replied coldly. "Teaching him that he can kick people and call them servants without losing his comfortable bedroom is how you created him. I'm doing him a favor."
"And what about me, Joanna?" my mother asked, her voice small, broken, and desperate. "What about your mother? Do you expect me to live on the street?"
I looked at my mother for a long moment. I remembered every Sunday dinner—every time she had passed me dirty plates without looking at my face, every time she had praised Justin's minimal efforts while ignoring my company's multi-million-dollar achievements, every time she had allowed the family to treat me like hired help in her dining room.
"You will stay in the Chestnut Hill house, Mom," I said softly. "The deed belongs to the trust, so you will not own it. I will pay your utility bills, your groceries, and your health insurance directly from the trust account. But your thirty-thousand-dollar monthly stipend is gone forever. You will receive an allowance of two thousand dollars a month for personal spending."
My mother gasped as if she had been doused in ice water. "Two thousand dollars?! Joanna, my garden maintenance alone costs twelve hundred a month!"
"Then you can weed the garden yourself," I said without a flicker of emotion. "It will give you something to do on Sunday afternoons."
May you like
I turned to Noah Vance. "Have Mr. Sterling's firm draft the formal consent decrees based on these terms. They have until 5:00 PM tomorrow to sign them. If one signature is missing, we proceed with full criminal and civil prosecution."
I picked up my leather briefcase, walked out of the conference room, and didn't look back once.
