Chapter 3 - Bloodline and Blackmail
The underground wine cellar of the Vance manor felt like a medieval dungeon encased in modern limestone and climate-controlled glass.
Victoria sat shivering on an iron stool, her designer dress torn at the hem and her face streaked with mascara.
Two armed guards stood at the heavy vault door, their hands resting on their sidearms.
The heavy door swung open with a hydraulic hiss, casting long shadows across the polished concrete floor.
Arthur stepped inside, accompanied not by his personal lawyers or his security team, but by Clara Jenkins.
Clara carried a small stainless steel tray containing a glass of water and a portable medical testing kit.
"Arthur... please, let me call my father," Victoria sobbed, looking up with bloodshot eyes.
"You cannot keep me locked beneath your house; this is kidnapping!" she cried.
Arthur pulled a velvet armchair from the tasting table and sat directly across from her, crossing one long leg over the other.
"Your father already knows where you are, Victoria," Arthur said smoothly.
"In fact, Chairman Sterling’s jet touched down at our private airfield twenty minutes ago," Arthur revealed.
"He is currently sitting in my study, watching a live stream of this room on my monitors," the billionaire added.
Victoria’s eyes widened with sudden, pathetic hope.
"Then you know he will destroy you! He controls the banking syndicate that backs your shipping fleet!" she gasped.
Arthur leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees.
"Forty minutes ago, Clara pointed something out to my financial investigators," Arthur replied, gesturing toward the young maid.
Victoria glared at Clara with pure venom.
"This peasant? What could a toilet scrubber possibly know about international banking syndicates?" Victoria hissed.
Clara set the tray down on the table, her demeanor cold, calm, and utterly unbothered by the insult.
"A company called Starlight Logistics registered three dummy corporations in the Cayman Islands last Tuesday," Clara said evenly.
"Those corporations purchased twelve million shares of Vance Maritime short options, betting on an immediate leadership crisis," Clara continued.
"The beneficial owner of Starlight Logistics isn't Arthur Vance, and it isn't Chairman Sterling," Clara noted.
"It is registered to a private trust named 'V.S. Heritage'—registered under your mother's maiden name, Victoria," Clara revealed.
Victoria looked as though she had been struck by lightning.
"How... how do you have access to Cayman corporate registries?" Victoria stammered, shrinking away from the maid.
Arthur’s eyes turned toward Clara, the curiosity in his gaze burning hotter than ever before.
"A very good question," Arthur murmured, turning his head back to Victoria.
"Clara’s father was Thomas Jenkins," Arthur stated, his voice carrying an unexpected weight of reverence.
Victoria blinked, trying to place the name.
"Thomas Jenkins?" Victoria whispered.
"My father’s former head of intelligence," Arthur revealed, his voice echoing in the stone cellar.
"The man who dragged my mother out of a burning limousine twenty-two years ago when my family was targeted by cartel hitmen," Arthur explained.
"Thomas Jenkins took four bullets to his chest to ensure Lady Evelyn lived to see my twenty-first birthday," the billionaire said.
Clara stood tall, her chin held high as the truth resonated in the cold room.
"My father died three months ago, Mr. Vance," Clara said softly, her eyes glistening but shedding no tears.
"Before he passed, he told me that someone inside the inner circle was slowly poisoning Lady Evelyn's daily infusions," Clara revealed.
"He told me that the Vance family had protected us for two decades, and it was my turn to pay that debt," she added.
Victoria’s breath hitched in her throat as Clara stepped toward the tray and opened the medical test kit.
"What is that?" Victoria whimpered, pressing her back against the limestone wall.
"This is a toxicology reagent kit," Clara explained, pulling a used syringe encased in plastic from her apron pocket.
"I retrieved this from the waste disposal bin in Lady Evelyn’s private bathroom an hour before the party," Clara stated.
"The label says Vitamin B12, prescribed by your personal family doctor, Dr. Julian Hayes," Clara said.
Clara dropped three clear drops of chemical solution into the liquid inside the syringe chamber.
Within three seconds, the clear liquid turned a violent, murky purple.
"Digitalis purpurea," Clara announced, turning the test tube toward the wall camera where Victoria’s father was watching.
"A concentrated heart stimulant that induces confusion, muscle weakness, and cardiac arrest in elderly patients," Clara stated.
"Administered in micro-doses over four months, it looks exactly like progressive vascular dementia," Clara explained.
Victoria fell to her hands and knees on the cold floor, retching from pure terror.
"I didn't choose the poison!" Victoria screamed into the floor.
"It wasn't my idea! Julian Hayes said it was undetectable! He said Arthur would never know!" she shrieked.
Arthur stood up slowly, the velvet chair scraping against the concrete like a blade across bone.
"You tried to beat my mother with a bat because she refused to sign away her life," Arthur whispered, his voice shaking with restrained fury.
"You tried to stop her heart so you could step into her shoes as the matriarch of this empire," he added.
Arthur reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a leather dossier, throwing it onto the floor in front of Victoria's face.
"Your father just signed every asset of Sterling Holdings over to Vance Enterprises to avoid federal treason charges," Arthur revealed.
"You are bankrupt, Victoria," the billionaire pronounced.
"Your name will be scrubbed from every registry, your accounts are frozen, and you are going to prison for attempted murder," Arthur said.
"No! Father! Father, help me!" Victoria screamed at the ceiling cameras.
Arthur walked toward the heavy steel door, turning back to Clara with a look of profound respect.
"Clara," Arthur said.
"Yes, sir?" she replied.
May you like
"Leave the water," Arthur commanded.
"Let her taste what complete desolation feels like," he added before stepping out into the corridor.
