Chapter 7 - The Unraveling Syndicate
The arrest of Julian Vance and Selena Cole became the most explosive news story in the nation within hours. Aerial footage of Chicago’s golden boy being led out of his corporate tower in handcuffs was plastered across every television network and social media platform. The audio recording, leaked to the press by an anonymous source within the precinct, horrified the public. The hashtag #JusticeForNora trended worldwide.
Stripped of his executive status, Julian was denied bail at his arraignment due to the overwhelming risk of flight and the calculated, violent nature of the attack. He was remanded directly to the Cook County Department of Corrections, stripped of his luxury clothing, and placed in a solitary holding cell.
Selena Cole fared no better. When the feds searched her private apartment, they discovered encrypted correspondence between her and an offshore money-laundering syndicate based in Cyprus. Selena had been hired by foreign competitors eight months prior to infiltrate Vance Global, seduce Julian, and orchestrate his complete legal or physical destruction in order to acquire the company's maritime shipping patents for pennies on the dollar.
She had manipulated Julian’s ego, fed his paranoia, and staged the downtown attack specifically to provoke him into murdering me, knowing that once I was dead and Julian was arrested, she would assume control of the offshore assets.
When Julian’s high-priced defense attorney visited him in the jail visiting room to deliver the news, Julian broke down into hysterical, uncontrollable weeping. The woman he had destroyed his marriage for, the woman he had nearly murdered his pregnant wife to protect, had viewed him as nothing more than a disposable pawn in a corporate hit.
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Meanwhile, back at Vance Global headquarters, an emergency shareholder meeting was held. With Julian in custody and Marcus presenting the Department of Justice's findings, the board voted unanimously to strip Julian of all executive shares, voting rights, and severance packages under the company's moral turpitude clause.
By unanimous consent of the institutional shareholders, I was appointed Interim Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, with Marcus Vance returning as Chief Executive Officer. The empire Julian had stolen was returned to the people who had actually built it.
