Chapter 7 - THE GHOST OF BENNETT VALEAs the marshals began escorting Conrad and Damian toward the front gates with cardboard boxes containing their meager personal belongings, a sleek black town car pulled up to the driveway.
The rear door opened, and a tall, impeccably groomed man in a bespoke gray suit stepped out.
It was Bennett Vale.
The man I was supposed to marry twenty-one years ago. The corporate pawn Conrad had tried to trade me off to in exchange for a shipping contract.
Bennett looked older, his hair dusted with silver at the temples, but his arrogant, calculating expression hadn't changed a bit. He took one look at Conrad holding a cardboard box of framed photos, then shifted his gaze toward me standing on the pristine marble steps.
“Elise,” Bennett said, a smooth, oily smile spreading across his face as he walked up the driveway. “I heard about the... restructuring. I must admit, I never took you for a corporate raider.”
I crossed my arms, looking down at him as if he were a bug on my shoe. “Bennett. Long time no see. Still trading human beings for business mergers?”
Bennett chuckled smoothly, brushing past a federal marshal as if he owned the place. “Business is business, Elise. Speaking of which, now that you own the Voss portfolio... I assume you’ll be honoring the preliminary merger agreement your father and I drafted last month?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Merger agreement?”
“Yes,” Bennett smiled wider, thinking he had cornered me. “The Vale-Voss logistics pipeline. Fifty-fifty split. With your military contracts and my shipping fleet, we could rule the entire Pacific trade corridor. All you have to do is sign the papers.”
Conrad, standing nearby holding his cardboard box, suddenly lit up with desperate hope. “Yes! Bennett is right! Partner with the Vale family! It’s what you were always meant to do!”
I stared at Bennett for a long, quiet moment. Then, I let out a soft, amused sigh.
“Bennett,” I said, shaking my head slowly. “Did you really think I spent twenty-one years rising through the ranks of naval strategy and global cyber-defense just to become your corporate trophy wife?”
Bennett’s smile faltered slightly. “What are you talking about? It’s a brilliant business move—”
“It was a brilliant business move,” I interrupted, pulling another encrypted tablet from my blazer pocket and tapping the screen. “In fact, it was so brilliant that three hours ago, Apex Vanguard executed a hostile buyout of Vale Industries' primary debt holdings.”
Bennett went completely rigid. “What... what did you say?”
“You heard me,” I smiled sweetly. “As of 8:00 AM this morning, Vale Industries is officially insolvent. Your shipping fleet has been impounded for unpaid customs tariffs, and your board of directors has just voted to oust you as CEO.”
Bennett staggered backward, his face turning an unhealthy shade of pale green. “You... you can't do that! That took me fifteen years to build!”
May you like
“And it took me ten seconds to dismantle,” I replied coldly, sliding my tablet back into my pocket. “Turns out, when you build an empire on handshakes and corporate extortion, it collapses the moment someone actually checks the books.”
Conrad dropped his cardboard box. Framed photos shattered on the concrete driveway, scattering pictures of a life that no longer existed.
