Chapter 6 - The Execution"Good morning, Andrew," I said smoothly, resting my hands on the pristine wood of the conference table. "You're three minutes late."
Andrew’s breath caught in his throat. He stumbled backward, almost tripping over his own feet. His lawyer looked back and forth between us, completely bewildered.
"Lauren...?" Andrew choked out, his voice reduced to a high-pitched whisper. "What—what are you doing in the CEO's chair? Is this some kind of sick joke?! Who allowed you in here?!"
Marcus Vance stood up, adjusting his buttoned jacket.
"Mr. Vance, please lower your voice," Marcus said sternly. "You are addressing Lauren Vance—founder, principal partner, and Chief Executive Officer of Aethelgard Capital Management."
"No... no, that's impossible!" Andrew screamed, slamming his briefcase onto the table. "She's a housewife! She stays home with the children! She doesn't have a company! Her father was a high school teacher!"
"My father was a master investor who taught me how to compound real estate assets since I was twelve years old, Andrew," I said calmly, leaning forward. "While you were using company loans to buy Rolexes and rent mansions in Charlottesville to impress your toxic family, I was quietly funding eighty percent of Vance Global’s supply chain through shell entities."
Andrew grabbed the edge of the table, his knuckles turning blue. "You... you were funding me?"
"I was sustaining you," I corrected him. "Because I foolishly believed that one day you would grow up and become a real father to our daughters. I thought if I supported your ego, you would treat our family with love. But on Saturday night, when you let your mother throw garbage at my daughters and called them 'useless girls,' you proved that you aren't a man at all. You are a parasite."
"Lauren, wait!" Andrew panicked, rushing toward the table. "We’re married! What’s yours is mine! If you own Aethelgard, then I own Aethelgard! We can fix this! We can clean up the Filipino note together!"
"Read the room, Andrew," I said coldly.
Marcus opened a black leather binder and slid a document across the table.
"Mr. Vance," Marcus announced, "Aethelgard Capital purchased your 5.4-million-peso debt note from the Manila syndicate forty-eight hours ago. Attached to that note is a strict cross-collateralization clause. Because Vance Global defaulted on its quarterly covenant ratios this morning at 8:00 AM, Aethelgard has executed full asset seizure."
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"What does that mean?!" Andrew yelled, his voice cracking with sheer terror.
"It means," Marcus replied, "that as of nine o'clock this morning, Aethelgard Capital owns 100% of Vance Global Holdings. Your corporate accounts are frozen. Your office leases are terminated. Your credit lines are revoked. And the deed to your mother’s house in Richmond has been transferred to our real estate recovery division."
