Chapter 12 - The Bloodline Claim
Within four hours, the top floor of the Everhart Global headquarters was placed under an unprecedented security lockdown. Armed personnel lined the perimeter, while a team of cyber-forensics specialists swept every terminal for compromised data.
In the executive boardroom, Nathaniel stood before a wall of monitors displaying financial flows across the Pacific. Sitting across the table were his lead corporate attorney, Marcus Vance, and Claire, who sat with a leather-bound file open in front of her.
"Let’s hear it, Marcus," Nathaniel ordered, not turning around.
Marcus cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses. "The Sterling Trust emerged from dormant status at midnight. They just filed an emergency petition with the Delaware Chancery Court, seeking an injunction on all voting shares tied to your late mother’s estate."
"My mother signed over her full equity stake to my father before she passed," Nathaniel said coldly. "Those shares were integrated into the primary trust when I was eighteen."
"On paper, yes," Marcus admitted carefully. "However, the Sterling matriarch—your grandmother, Lady Eleanor Sterling—added a restrictive covenant seventy years ago. It dictates that any male heir who marries outside the peerage families specified in the charter forfeits his voting proxy to the eldest living matriarchal representative."
Claire looked up from the document. "And who is their chosen representative?"
Before Marcus could answer, the double doors of the boardroom swung open.
Two burly private security contractors stepped aside, allowing a woman to walk in unannounced. She was tall, clad in an impeccably tailored cream blazer, with high cheekbones, icy grey eyes, and sharp, sculpted features that bore a chilling resemblance to Nathaniel.
"That would be me, little brother," the woman said, her voice dripping with venomous amusement.
Nathaniel didn't flinch, but his jaw clenched. "Victoria."
Victoria Sterling—Nathaniel’s estranged elder half-sister, who had vanished from New York high society six years ago following an offshore embezzlement scandal.
Victoria sauntered toward the table, tossing an ivory designer purse onto the conference surface. She didn't spare Nathaniel a second glance; instead, her eyes locked straight onto Claire, raking over her with open, calculated contempt.
"So this is the little nobody who managed to slip a ring on your finger," Victoria sneered, leaning over the table. "I read the reports. Former scholarship student, dead parents, practically begged for survival before stumbling into an elite hotel circuit. You really couldn't find a woman with an actual pedigree, Nathaniel? You had to marry common trash?"
The air in the room evaporated. Marcus flinched, instinctively bracing for an explosion from Nathaniel.
Nathaniel stepped toward Victoria, his shadow looming over her. "Choose your next words with absolute precision, Victoria. You are one breath away from having your head bounced off that reinforced window."
Victoria laughed, completely unfazed. "Threaten me all you want, brother. While you were playing knight-in-shining-armor for a stray, our grandmother assigned me full power of attorney over the Sterling block. That gives me thirty-four percent of Everhart Global's controlling votes as of this morning."
May you like
She tapped her manicured nail against the polished wood. "The board meeting is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. By five o'clock, Claire’s name will be completely scrubbed from the family foundation, and your authority will be neutered. Welcome back to the family, darling."
***
