Chapter 3 - The Daughter’s AmbitionSix weeks later, the silence of the workshop was replaced by the roar of bulldozers.
Victoria Shaw, the CEO of Shaw Meridian, stood on the ridge, her designer boots caked in red mud. Beside her, her lead attorney, Marcus Vane, gestured toward the valley below.
“Rowan is holding out,” Vane said, checking his tablet. “He’s got a zoning injunction based on some old environmental reports. It’s nonsense, but it’s delaying the groundbreaking.”
Victoria narrowed her eyes. She was a woman of sharp angles and cold efficiency, a version of her mother without the conscience. “I don't care about the law. I care about the timeline. Get him off that land by Friday. Pay him, scare him, or bulldoze his workshop with him inside it.”
“Victoria,” a voice said from behind her.
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Victoria spun around. Eleanor, her mother, stood on the gravel road, leaning on a cane, looking frail but eyes burning with a sudden, terrifying clarity. “You will not touch that man’s property. Not until you’ve reviewed the files he has.”
“Mother?” Victoria laughed, a cold, brittle sound. “You’ve gone soft. I’m running a $465 million project. I don't have time for local sentimentalists.”
