Chapter 9 - The Confrontation at Carter & Co.
The security guard at the ground floor of the Carter Logistics corporate tower had strict instructions, but Eleanor Carter had managed to bypass the reception desk by exploiting an old executive keycard that hadn't yet been deactivated by HR.
I was sitting in my corner office, reviewing a comprehensive settlement strategy with Marcus Kane and Chloe Vance, when the heavy oak doors were violently pushed open.
“Brielle!” Eleanor stormed in, her designer trench coat billowing behind her. Behind her, our head of building security, Thomas, looked mortified.
“Ms. Carter, I’m so sorry,” Thomas stammered. “She used the service elevator—”
“It’s fine, Thomas,” I said calmly, raising a single hand. “Give us a moment. Keep two guards stationed directly outside the door.”
Thomas nodded and stepped back, pulling the doors shut.
Eleanor stood before my desk, her chest heaving, her eyes wild. She looked at Marcus, then at Chloe, before turning her fiery gaze on me. “Get these vultures out of your office. We need to speak as mother and daughter. Right now.”
“There is no ‘mother and daughter’ here, Eleanor,” I said, not bothering to look up from the financial spreadsheet I was reading. “There is the Chief Executive Officer of Carter Logistics, and there is a co-conspirator in an active half-million-dollar embezzlement scheme. Marcus and Chloe stay.”
Eleanor slapped both hands down on my desk. “How dare you! How dare you speak to me that way after everything I sacrificed to raise you! I gave you this life! I tolerated your stubbornness, your plainness, your antisocial devotion to your father’s boring business while your sister brought light and beauty into our lives!”
Marcus cleared his throat, reaching for a sleek digital recorder on the table, but I raised my hand to stop him. I didn't need a recorder to stay composed anymore.
“Light and beauty?” I echoed, looking up into Eleanor’s flushed face. “Is that what you call grand larceny? Is that what you call forging my signature on my father’s medical contingency trust in 2021?”
Eleanor froze. The color instantly drained from her skin, leaving her looking paper-white and hollow.
“You... you know about that?” she breathed, barely audible.
“I didn't until two hours ago,” I said, sliding a newly delivered folder across the desk. “When Julian’s attorney called Marcus to initiate an emergency proffer session with the Travis County District Attorney. Julian handed over the paper trail, Eleanor. He gave us the routing numbers, the notary stamps, and the forged signature sheets where you copied my handwriting to drain three million dollars of my inheritance.”
Eleanor sank into the leather guest chair, her manic energy completely collapsing like a punctured balloon. “Brielle... please. Vanessa was young. She had dreams. She wanted to launch her fashion brand in New York, she needed to look the part! You were already established here! You didn’t need the money!”
“It wasn't your money to give!” I snapped, my voice finally rising, rich with an anger I had suppressed for a decade. “Dad worked himself into an early grave to provide that safety net! And while I was spending twelve-hour days in warehouses and truck depots keeping this company solvent, you two were sipping champagne in the Hamptons on money stolen from my future!”
“We’re your family,” Eleanor wept, burying her face in her manicured hands. “You can’t send your own mother to prison. You can’t ruin Vanessa’s life. Think about what people will say! Think about your father’s legacy!”
“Dad’s legacy is honesty, integrity, and the three hundred employees out on that floor whose pensions Vanessa tried to raid to buy imported flowers and an overwater bungalow,” I said, standing up and towering over her. “You ruined this family the moment you let Vanessa pour that wine and told me to shut up and take it.”
I picked up the desk phone and pressed line one.
May you like
“Thomas,” I said into the receiver. “Escort Mrs. Carter out of the building. And notify the front gate that if she or Vanessa steps foot on this property again, they are to be detained for criminal trespass.”
***
