Chapter 9 - The Collapse of the Empire
The ballroom devolved into total chaos, but Marcus Sterling moved with tactical precision. He handed a stack of federal arrest warrants directly to the lead U.S. Marshal.
"Harold Pierce and Victoria Pierce," the Marshal announced over the quieted crowd, "you are under arrest for federal mail fraud, wire fraud, grand larceny, corporate embezzlement, and conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice."
"This is absurd!" Harold roared, his face flushing crimson as marshals grabbed his arms. "I am the Chairman of Pierce Enterprises! You can't do this!"
"You're not the Chairman anymore, Harold," Arthur Vance said calmly, pulling a certified court order from his briefcase. "As of two hours ago, the Federal District Court froze all corporate accounts under Pierce Enterprises. Furthermore, as the legal executor of the Daniel Vance estate, I have reinstated Lauren Vance and David Vance as primary majority shareholders."
Victoria lunged at me, her eyes wild with hatred. "You ungrateful little brat! We gave you a roof over your head! We fed you! You were nothing!"
"I was a child you stole from," I said coldly, looking her dead in the eye. "You took my father, you tried to destroy my brother, and you left me to die on a frozen highway. You are nothing to me."
The marshals slapped handcuffs on Victoria's wrists, pinning her arms behind her sequined dress. The crowd clicked away with camera phones as the former power couple of Chicago was paraded out of the ballroom in shame.
As Harold was led past me in cuffs, he glared at me with pure venom. "You won't last a day running this company, Lauren!"
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"I don't need to run your corrupt company, Harold," I replied softly. "We're liquidating it and restoring the Vance name."
As the police cars sped away into the snow-covered Chicago night, David wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and Arthur stood on my other side. The suffocating weight I had carried since childhood vanished into the cold night air.
