Chapter 3 - THE CHESSBOARD OF REVENGE
The next morning, the Vermont estate was shrouded in a heavy fog, but the digital world was already on fire.
By 8:00 AM, financial news outlets were buzzing. The Wall Street Journal dropped a bombshell article detailing the sudden, aggressive movement by Apex Advisory and Stewart Global into the supply-chain sector. But the real earthquake hit at 9:15 AM, when a prominent tech journalist published an exclusive insider piece titled: "The Shadow Brain Behind Stewart Global's $40B Rally: Meet Jenna Vance."
My phone exploded with thousands of notifications. Email inquiries, interview requests, job offers, and messages from people I hadn't spoken to since high school flooded in every second.
I was sitting in the private lounge of a boutique hotel in downtown Burlington, sipping green tea and working on my laptop, when the double doors burst open.
Nicholas strode in, looking disheveled and frantic. He hadn't slept; his eyes were ringed with dark circles, and his designer shirt was wrinkled. Behind him, my parents hurried in, looking equally pale.
"Jenna!" Nicholas shouted, ignoring the quiet glares from the hotel staff. "What the hell is this article? Why is my board calling me at seven in the morning asking if I’m related to you?"
I didn't look up from my screen. "I suggest you lower your voice, Nicholas. This is a private lounge."
"I don't give a damn about the lounge!" he yelled, slamming his hand onto my table. Coffee spilled over the rim of my cup. "Vanguard Logistics just pulled our integration contract! They said they are freezing all third-party deals pending an emergency acquisition by Stewart Global! That contract was eighty percent of my projected revenue for next year! My investors are threatening to pull out!"
I calmly set my tea down, wiped the spill with a napkin, and finally looked at him.
"And how is that my problem?" I asked softly.
"You're advising Emmett Stewart!" Nicholas hissed, leaning down, his face inches from mine. "I know how this works! You knew Vanguard was my sole supplier! You targeted them on purpose to destroy me!"
"I didn't target Vanguard, Nicholas," I said, my voice ice-cold. "Emmett targeted them because their management was incompetent and their infrastructure was failing. I merely drafted the strategic framework that exposed their weaknesses. It’s called business. I thought you were the expert on making deals and building relationships?"
My mother rushed forward, wringing her hands in distress. "Jenna, please! He's your brother! His wedding was yesterday! You can't let his company collapse like this! Think of what people will say about our family!"
"Our family?" I let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "Where was 'our family' yesterday when Nicholas told me I was going to ruin his photos? Where was 'our family' when he told me I didn't belong around people who actually matter? You stood right beside him, Mom. You smiled while he sent me to Table Nineteen."
"He was just stressed!" my mother cried out, tears welling in her eyes. "You know how important his image is!"
"His image is a lie," I retorted, standing up. I towered over Nicholas in my heels, my presence completely commanding the room. "He built a house of cards using dad’s retirement savings and empty promises to wealthy fools. And now that a real storm has hit, he expects me to act as his umbrella? No."
Nicholas’s face turned from red to a terrifying, pale white. "Jenna... please. If Vanguard gets taken over and terminates our contract, I’ll be personally liable for six million dollars in debt. Victoria’s father... he told me this morning that if the deal falls through, he’s filing for an annulment. He thinks I'm a fraud."
"You are a fraud, Nicholas," I said without an ounce of pity. "You spent your whole life pretending to be a giant by standing on my shoulders and pushing me down into the dirt. But the dirt is where I learned how to build something real."
He grabbed my wrist, his voice desperate, dropping into a sickening plea. "Fix it, Jenna. Please. Call Emmett. Tell him to grant my company an exemption. You can do it! He listens to you! I’ll give you equity! I’ll make you a VP in my company!"
I pulled my wrist out of his grip with absolute disdain.
"Offer me equity in a sinking ship?" I laughed. "I don't take orders from men who seat me with children, Nicholas. And as of five minutes ago, I don't just advise Stewart Global."
I opened my laptop screen and turned it toward him.
On the screen was a press release, ready to be published nationwide.
APEX ADVISORY ANNOUNCES JENNA VANCE AS NEW CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER AND MANAGING PARTNER.
Nicholas stared at the headline, his breath catching in his throat.
"You're... you're a partner?" he whispered.
"I own thirty percent of the firm now," I said calmly, closing the laptop and sliding it into my leather bag. "Which means every major acquisition in this state goes through my desk. Including the liquidation of your company's assets when you default next month."
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Nicholas stumbled back, knocking over a chair. My mother covered her mouth, gasping in horror, while my father stood frozen, realizing for the first time that the child they had ignored was now the absolute ruler of their fate.
"Have a nice honeymoon, Nicholas," I said, walking past them toward the exit. "I hear Table Nineteen is still open."
