Chapter 12
The heavy oak boardroom doors banged open with a deafening crash, cutting off Graham mid-sentence. Security guards rushed in, breathing heavily, their uniforms disheveled.
"Mrs. Rowe! We have a security breach!" the head of security panted, stepping up to the mahogany table. "A private elevator override was triggered from the ground floor. Someone bypassed all biometrics using a master administrative code."
"Whose code?" Meredith demanded, spinning away from the window, her white gown swirling around her ankles. Her composure was back, hardened into diamond-sharp focus.
"That's just it, ma'am," the guard swallowed hard. "It’s a legacy code. Registered to Arthur Sterling. Your late father's original business partner... the one who was bought out and vanished thirty years ago."
A collective gasp echoed through the room. Even the senior board members looked stunned. Arthur Sterling was a ghost, a myth whispered about in corporate history books as the man who supposedly embezzled seed money before disappearing into the shadows.
Before anyone could process the revelation, the private elevator chime chimed with a crisp, cheerful ding.
May you like
The heavy steel doors slid open slowly. Standing inside was a woman in a tailored obsidian-black pantsuit, her dark hair pulled back into a severe bun. She wore oversized designer sunglasses indoors, and a thin, knowing smile played across her painted red lips. She stepped out into the boardroom as if she owned the building.
"Hello, little sister," the woman purred, removing her sunglasses to reveal eyes that were chillingly, unmistakably identical to Meredith’s. "Did you really think Dad’s sins were buried with him?"
