Chapter 5 - THE SHADOW ALLIANCE
While Elena was preparing her trap, Vivian Cross was sitting in a dark, private lounge across town, her eyes red and puffy from crying.
Sitting across from her was none other than Julian Sterling.
“She took everything from me, Julian!” Vivian sobbed, taking a long gulp of scotch. “My store, my reputation, my money! She pretended to be my assistant for two years just to crush me!”
Julian swirled his glass, a sinister grin on his face. “She didn’t pretend to be your assistant to crush you, Vivian. She hid because she was hiding from me. But now she thinks she’s untouchable because she’s sitting on Arthur Vance’s billions.”
Vivian looked up, narrowing her eyes. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Elena has a weakness,” Julian leaned in, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “Her son, Leo. And her desperate desire to protect her precious family reputation.”
“What good does that do us?” Vivian asked bitterly. “She promised to buy up all my company’s debt by midnight tonight. I’ll be completely bankrupt by tomorrow morning!”
“Not if we hit her where it hurts first,” Julian sneered. “Tomorrow night at the Grand Horizon Gala, Elena is meeting me to hand over $15 million in cash to buy my silence. But I don’t just want $15 million, Vivian. I want control of Vance Group.”
Vivian stared at him. “How?”
“You still have access to the venue’s back-end security system, don’t you? Your brand was co-sponsoring that charity event before the shutdown,” Julian smiled wickedly. “I have hired a private team. During Elena’s speech on stage, we will play a altered audio recording of her admitting to sabotaging her grandfather’s company and bribing officials. While the room goes into chaos, my men will take Leo from the holding suite upstairs.”
Vivian gasped. “Kidnapping?! Julian, that’s crazy! If we get caught—”
“We won’t get caught,” Julian cut her off sternly. “Once we have the kid, Elena will sign over her voting shares in Vance Group to save him. You get your brand back, and I get the Vance empire. Are you in, or do you want to spend the rest of your life in poverty?”
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Vivian looked down at her hands, missing her diamond rings that she had already pawned off that afternoon.
A cold, bitter sneer formed on her face. “I’m in.”
