Chapter 7 - A Desperate Plea
"You granted protection, Victor?" Iris’s voice was cool, melodic, and entirely devoid of fear.
Victor scoffed, looking down his nose at her. "Stay out of this, Iris. You may have fooled Nicholas with your little undercover charity fantasies, but corporate governance is handled by the adults."
Iris walked directly to the mahogany desk in the study, opened the sleek leather binder resting on the blotter, and pulled out an encrypted security tablet. Her fingers danced across the glass screen with blinding speed, inputting a thirty-two-character cryptographic key.
Arthur Sterling watched her, trembling. "Iris... Mrs. Vance... please. Bianca will apologize publicly! She will issue a televised statement! Just don't let Nicholas call in the loans!"
"Your daughter didn't just tear my clothes, Arthur," Iris said, not looking up from the screen. "She mocked the dignity of every working person in that building. She believed that wealth gave her the divine right to humiliate another human being without consequence. You raised a monster because you are one."
She turned the tablet screen toward Victor and Arthur.
On the screen was a detailed breakdown of an offshore entity registered in the Cayman Islands: *Aegis Holdings Ltd.*
Victor Vance’s face drained of color. The arrogant sneer vanished, replaced by an expression of sheer horror. "Where... how did you get those ledgers?"
"I built the algorithmic tracking system that detected them, Victor," Iris said softly. "You thought Nicholas was in Seattle dealing with a heart problem. In reality, Nicholas was in Seattle reviewing the financial forensic audit I compiled over the last six months while you thought I was playing house."
She looked at Arthur Sterling. "You didn't borrow money to cover Macau losses, Arthur. You borrowed that money to funnel it into Victor’s shadow fund to launch a hostile takeover of Vance Properties Pacific. You and Victor were planning to force Nicholas out at the shareholder meeting next month."
The room plunged into an absolute, suffocating silence. Even the rain pounding against the French doors seemed to hush.
Nicholas stepped up beside Iris, his hand resting gently on her shoulder. The coldness in his eyes had turned into pure, merciless execution. "You came into my house to challenge my authority, Uncle. But you forgot who actually runs the mathematics behind this empire."
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"Iris..." Victor stammered, his aristocratic composure shattering into pieces. "We... this is a family matter. We can negotiate—"
"There are no negotiations with traitors," Nicholas said. "Arthur, your assets are frozen as of midnight. Victor, your resignation from every executive committee will be signed before you leave this room, or the Department of Justice will have these ledgers by dawn."
