Chapter 4 - THE BOARDROOM CONSPIRACY
The penthouse on the sixty-fourth floor of the Olympic Tower was dead silent when Adrian unlocked the heavy mahogany door.
The scent of hot chicken noodle soup and warm bread filled the vast living room. Thomas, his loyal fifty-year-old chauffeur and former bodyguard, stood quietly by the kitchen island, wiping down the counter.
"They're in the guest suite, Mr. Vance," Thomas said softly, nodding toward the east wing. "The little ones ate two bowls each before falling asleep right on the carpet. Ms. Sterling carried them into bed."
Adrian closed his eyes and let out a breath he felt like he’d been holding for six years. "Thank you, Thomas. Did anyone follow you?"
"Two black SUVs tailed us from the restaurant. Looked like your mother’s private security detail. I took the subterranean tunnels under Grand Central and lost them near 49th. But they know where this building is, sir."
Adrian nodded grimly, loosening his silk tie and tossing his wet jacket onto the sofa. He walked quietly down the dimly lit hallway toward the master guest suite.
The door was slightly ajar. A warm yellow nightlight illuminated the room.
Across the king-sized bed, four small boys lay sprawled under a down comforter. Leo was clutching the toy car with the missing wheel, snoring softly with his thumb near his mouth. Matthew and Noah were curled against each other back-to-back, while Daniel slept sideways, his tiny foot dangling off the edge.
Claire sat on the edge of the bed, her shoulders hunched with exhaustion, watching them sleep as if guarding them from monsters.
Adrian stepped into the room, making sure the floorboards didn't creak. Claire stiffened, but she didn't turn around.
"They look just like you," she whispered, her voice raw. "Every single day I looked at their faces, I saw the man who abandoned me."
Adrian sat in the armchair beside the window, his gaze fixed on his sons. "I looked for you for eight months, Claire. When you didn't show up at our apartment that morning, I went to your college campus. I went to your sister's house in New Jersey. Eleanor told me you took a settlement and moved to California with an ex-boyfriend. She showed me a bank wire receipt with your signature."
Claire slowly turned her head, tears welling in her exhausted eyes. "She told me you agreed to it. She came to my clinic with two private investigators. She said if I ever approached you, she would use Vance’s legal team to deem me an unfit mother, take the babies the moment they were born, and place them in separate foster homes where I’d never find them."
Adrian felt a white-hot fury ignite in his chest. His mother hadn't just separated them—she had weaponized terror against a pregnant twenty-two-year-old woman carrying quadruplets.
"I’m getting a DNA test done first thing in the morning," Adrian said quietly. "Not because I doubt they're mine—one look at Matthew's hands told me everything—but because I need legal armor. When Eleanor comes after this family, I am going to bury her in court."
Suddenly, Adrian’s phone vibrated violently against the nightstand. It was a private, encrypted call from Julian Mercer, his chief financial officer and the only man on the board who had remained loyal to his late father.
Adrian excused himself and stepped out onto the glass terrace overlooking the Manhattan skyline. The rain had turned into a steady, freezing mist.
"Julian. What happened?"
"Adrian, where the hell are you?" Julian’s voice was laced with panic. "Eleanor just executed an emergency clause in the corporate bylaws. She called a midnight session of the executive committee."
"She can't do that without my presence as CEO."
"She invoked the mental incapacity protocol!" Julian hissed. "She told the board you suffered a psychiatric breakdown at the restaurant, sabotaged the merger, and are unfit to manage company assets. Claudia’s father backed her up. They’ve frozen your corporate accounts and locked you out of the central server. If you don't show up at the board meeting at eight o'clock tomorrow morning with proof of solvency, she’s voting to liquidate Vance Infrastructure's commercial assets to a private equity firm."
"What private equity firm?"
"A shell company registered in Delaware called Apex Horizon," Julian replied. "Adrian... I looked into the registration filings. Apex Horizon isn't owned by Claudia’s family. It’s registered under a trust controlled entirely by your mother. She’s not trying to save Vance Infrastructure—she’s trying to bankrupt it on purpose so she can buy its assets for pennies on the dollar!"
Adrian gripped the railing so hard his knuckles turned white. "She wants total control."
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"Worse," Julian said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "Apex Horizon filed an injunction tonight demanding the seizure of all your personal assets—including the Olympic Tower penthouse—claiming they were acquired with misappropriated corporate funds. Adrian, she’s sending the sheriffs to evict you at dawn."
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