Part 3: The Queen's Verdict
The elevator doors opened onto the executive floor, revealing a hallway lined with heavily armed private security guards.
Dominic and Victoria walked down the corridor, their footsteps muffled by the plush, custom-woven carpet.
They reached the massive, frosted glass doors of the main boardroom.
Marcus pushed the doors open, gesturing for them to enter.
The boardroom was an expansive, intimidating space featuring floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city skyline.
At the far end of the room sat a massive, polished obsidian conference table.
A single, high-backed leather chair was turned away from them, facing the sprawling cityscape.
"We demand to speak to the CEO of Sterling Holdings," Victoria announced, marching into the room with unearned authority.
"You have illegally seized my son's assets, and we will be filing a massive federal lawsuit against you."
The leather chair slowly swiveled around.
I sat there, wearing a flawless, tailored white power suit.
My hair was perfectly styled, concealing the stitches above my eyebrow, and my posture radiated absolute, terrifying control.
Victoria stopped dead in her tracks, the color draining from her face as if she had just seen a ghost.
Dominic stumbled backward, his mouth opening and closing without producing a single sound.
"Hello, Dominic," I said softly, my voice echoing clearly in the silent room.
"Hello, Victoria."
I folded my hands on the obsidian table, offering them a cold, razor-sharp smile.
"I believe you wanted to discuss my illegal seizures?"
Dominic gripped the edge of a guest chair to keep his knees from buckling.
"Audrey?" he choked out, his brain violently rejecting the reality in front of him. "How... what are you doing in that chair?"
Sophia, my attorney, stepped out from the shadows near the corner of the room.
"You are addressing the sole owner, founder, and chairwoman of Sterling Holdings," Sophia stated firmly.
Dominic’s eyes darted frantically around the room, the pieces finally snapping together in his mind.
"You?" Dominic whispered, the devastating truth crashing down on him. "You bought my debt? You bought the house?"
"I bought your entire life, Dominic," I corrected him smoothly.
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the cold stone table.
"I paid for the food you ate, the cars you drove, and the expensive champagne you drank with your mistress."
Victoria let out a panicked, hysterical laugh.
"This is ridiculous!" she shrieked, pointing a shaking finger at me. "She’s a nobody! She’s an orphan! I won't let her steal our company!"
I didn't yell.
I simply picked up a small remote control from the desk and pressed a single button.
The massive flat-screen television on the boardroom wall flared to life.
It displayed high-definition security footage from the top of the grand staircase in the mansion.
The video clearly showed Victoria standing over me.
It showed the hatred on her face.
And it clearly, undeniably showed her hands violently shoving my shoulders backward.
Victoria gasped, slapping both hands over her mouth as she watched me fall backward down the marble stairs on the screen.
"Did you really think the woman who owned the mansion wouldn't install hidden cameras in the hallways?" I asked quietly.
The boardroom was suffocatingly silent.
"You killed my child, Victoria," I whispered, the ice in my voice freezing the very air in the room.
"And you thought I would just disappear."
Dominic turned and stared at his mother in absolute horror.
"You pushed her?" he asked, his voice trembling with disbelief. "You told me she tripped!"
"She deserved it!" Victoria suddenly screamed, completely losing her grip on sanity. "She was ruining our family!"
"You don't have a family, Dominic," I reminded him, repeating the cruel words the doctor had told him the night before.
I stood up, adjusting the cuffs of my pristine white jacket.
"You are sterile. You are bankrupt. And you are entirely alone."
I looked at Sophia and gave her a slight nod.
The heavy glass doors of the boardroom opened again.
Two uniformed police detectives walked into the room, holding a printed warrant.
"Victoria Vance," the lead detective announced, pulling out a pair of steel handcuffs.
"You are under arrest for attempted murder and aggravated assault."
Victoria screamed, fighting wildly as the detectives grabbed her arms and slammed her face-first onto the obsidian table.
"Dominic, help me!" she wailed, tears streaming down her ruined face as the cold metal clicked tightly around her wrists.
Dominic didn't move an inch.
He stood paralyzed, watching his mother being dragged out of the room by the police, her screams fading down the hallway.
He slowly turned his head back to look at me.
He looked broken, empty, and utterly pathetic.
"Audrey, please," Dominic begged, falling to his knees on the carpet right in front of me.
He clasped his hands together, weeping like a terrified child.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know she pushed you. I'll do anything. Please don't leave me with nothing."
I walked slowly around the desk, stopping exactly two feet away from his kneeling, sobbing form.
I looked down at the man who had let me bleed in a hospital room while he entertained his mistress.
"You already have nothing, Dominic," I said softly.
I pulled the signed divorce papers from Sophia’s briefcase and dropped them onto the floor in front of his knees.
"Sign them," I commanded. "And then get out of my building."
Dominic stared at the papers through his tears, realizing he had no leverage, no power, and no future.
With trembling, defeated hands, he picked up a pen from the floor and signed his name.
Marcus hauled him to his feet by the collar of his jacket and dragged him toward the exit.
"You can't do this to me!" Dominic cried out as Marcus shoved him into the elevator.
I stood in the center of my boardroom, listening as the elevator doors sealed him away forever.
I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked out at the bright, beautiful city stretching out before me.
May you like
They had tried to bury me beneath a staircase.
They didn't realize they had just given me the perfect foundation to build my throne.
