Chapter 9 - THE NEW DAWN
Three months later, the spring sun shone brightly through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Arthur Vance’s private office. Vance Industrial Distribution was thriving under a new leadership board, with Rachel Vance serving as interim CEO and me officially stepping in as Chief Operating Officer. Arthur’s health, miraculously stabilized by a new round of targeted immunotherapy, allowed him to sit in his leather armchair every Tuesday, smiling proudly as he watched his granddaughter Kelly shadow our corporate legal team during her school spring break.
As for Luca, his descent was swift and unceremonious. Stripped of his corporate title, blacklisted across the regional manufacturing sector due to the embezzlement investigation, and abandoned entirely by Chloe, he was forced to take a low-level sales job at a suburban car dealership just to pay rent on a dingy studio apartment across town. He tried calling me twice—once to beg for financial assistance, and once to threaten legal action over the divorce settlement. Both times, my attorney sent him a single copy of the corporate audit, and he never called again.
I stood by the window of my new office on the fortieth floor, looking out over the sprawling skyline of the city where I had spent sixteen years playing the quiet, supportive background character in someone else’s story.
May you like
My phone buzzed on the mahogany desk. It was a text message from Arthur: “Family dinner tonight at seven, Jessi. Don’t be late.”
I smiled, locked my screen, and picked up my pen.
