Chapter 15 - The Family Summons
The ground-floor lobby of Meridian Dynamics was bathed in the harsh, unflattering glare of industrial emergency lights. A dozen armed building guards stood in a perimeter around the circular reception desk, keeping the area sealed from the street outside, where flashing red and blue lights signaled the arrival of law enforcement.
Sitting on a low leather bench in the center of the marble expanse were Vanessa and her mother, Eleanor Mercer.
Vanessa looked completely unhinged. Her expensive makeup was streaked with sweat and tears, her hair disheveled from trying to claw past the security guards ten minutes earlier. Eleanor sat beside her, clutching a counterfeit leather purse to her chest, trembling violently and muttering prayers under her breath.
When the executive glass elevator descended into the atrium and Julian stepped out alongside Arthur Vance, Vanessa sprang to her feet like a viper.
"Julian!" she shrieked, her voice echoing off the cavernous ceiling. "Tell these thugs to let us go right now! Look at what they’re doing to us! They searched my purse! They touched Mom’s belongings! Who do these minimum-wage rent-a-cops think they are?!"
Julian walked toward them slowly, his hands in his pockets, his posture relaxed. He didn't look angry; he looked entirely detached, like a physician observing a specimen in a Petri dish.
"You look stressed, Vanessa," Julian said smoothly. "Whatever happened to your big speech? 'Now we're both unemployed,' wasn't that the line? You laughed so hard you could barely breathe on the graduation lawn."
"Shut up!" Vanessa screamed, her face contorting with rage. "You did this! You planned this whole thing to humiliate me! That man—Mr. Sterling—he told me you stole proprietary code from him! He told me you were an arrogant fraud who cheated his way into Meridian! He promised me a senior vice president position in his marketing firm if I just brought Mom here to deliver that peace offering!"
Eleanor looked up, tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks, reaching out a trembling hand toward Julian. "Julian, baby... please. Vanessa was only trying to help the family. She wanted to bridge the gap between you and Mr. Sterling. We didn't know there was an illegal machine in my bag! Tell this billionaire CEO to let us go! We're your family! Blood is thicker than water!"
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Arthur Vance stepped forward, folding his arms, looking down at Eleanor with utter disdain.
"Blood didn't stop your daughter from tearing Julian’s contract into twenty pieces while you laughed and applauded her cruelty," Vance said, his voice cold enough to freeze iron. "And blood won't protect you from a federal indictment for conspiracy to commit industrial espionage."
