Chapter 7 - DESPERATE MEASURES8
The vote was swift and devastating. With my fifty-one percent majority, combined with Kyle’s shares and the remaining loyal board members who realized which way the wind was blowing, Marcus Blackwood and Arthur Pendelton were stripped of their board positions within ten minutes.
"You think you've won, don't you?" Marcus spat as security arrived to escort him from the executive floor. He stood in the doorway, his white knuckles gripping his silver cane so hard they turned grey. "Your father was a stubborn fool, Paige, and you are just as blind as he was. A piece of paper doesn't protect you in the real world."
"Get out of my building, Marcus," I said without looking up from the financial ledgers Penelope had laid out before me.
"This isn't over," Marcus whispered, his voice laced with pure venom before he turned and limped into the elevator, flanked by two security guards.
By two o'clock that afternoon, the atmosphere in the corporate offices had shifted from sheer terror to electric energy. We launched a massive public relations restructuring. Kyle took over media communications, releasing the full details of Calvin’s embezzlement scheme and proving that the Vance family had cooperated fully with federal authorities to clean house. By four PM, the stock price had recovered twelve percent.
I was sitting in my father's old corner office, staring out over the city skyline, when Penelope knocked gently on the open door.
"You look like your father sitting in that chair," she said softly, holding two mugs of steaming hot coffee.
"I feel like I'm wearing someone else's clothes," I confessed, taking a mug from her. "It’s overwhelming, Penelope. Yesterday morning I was pruning white roses. Today I'm running a multinational corporation."
"You were born for this, Paige," Penelope said firmly. "Your father knew it. That's why he didn't give the company to Kyle. Kyle is a fighter, but you... you have the vision. You see the long game."
My desk phone buzzed sharply, interrupting us. I pressed the speaker button. "Yes, Sarah?"
"Ms. Vance, there's a priority call from the Cook County Correctional Facility," my secretary’s voice announced. "An inmate named Calvin Miller is requesting an urgent call. He says it's a matter of life and death regarding Marcus Blackwood."
I looked at Penelope. She raised an eyebrow, silently shaking her head.
"Put him through," I said.
A loud beep sounded, followed by the automated recorded voice announcing a collect call from a detention facility. Then Calvin’s frantic, broken voice filled the room.
"Paige? Paige! Is that you?! Please don't hang up!" he sobbed hysterically. The background noise was filled with shouting men and metallic doors slamming.
"You have thirty seconds, Calvin," I said coldly.
"Paige, you have to help me! You have to get me out on bail! Marcus sent people here! They... they threatened me in the holding block!" Calvin was breathing fast, hyperventilating. "He knows I talked to the federal prosecutors! He thinks I'm going to turn state's evidence against him!"
"Aren't you?" I asked plainly.
"I don't have a choice! They showed me photos of Tabitha in her holding cell! Paige, Marcus isn't just trying to take the company! He has a secondary plan! He... he set up a fraudulent safety transfer on the Vance distribution warehouses in East Chicago! He’s going to burn them!"
I sat up straight, my heart dropping. "What are you talking about?"
"The industrial chemical storage complex in East Chicago!" Calvin blurted out frantically. "Tabitha signed the facility management over to a dummy corporation owned by Blackwood last week! They loaded it with uninsured hazardous material! If those warehouses go down, the environmental liability alone will destroy Vance Enterprises! The state will shut you down permanently!"
"When?" I demanded, my hands gripping the edge of the desk.
"Tonight!" Calvin cried. "They're going to make it look like an electrical accident during the shift change at midnight! Please, Paige! Tell the prosecutor I'm cooperating! Get me out of here! I'm begging you!"
I slammed my hand down on the button, cutting the connection instantly.
"Is he telling the truth?" Penelope asked, her face pale.
"Calvin is a coward," I said, standing up rapidly and grabbing my suit jacket. "He only tells the truth when he's terrified for his own skin. Penelope, call Detective Vance right now. Tell him we need a police escort to the East Chicago industrial facility immediately."
"Paige, wait!" Kyle shouted as he rushed into the office, holding his iPad. "I just ran a check on the East Chicago facility's security feeds. The entire system was manually taken offline fifteen minutes ago!"
"He's already moving," I said, a wave of cold adrenaline rushing through me. "Marcus isn't waiting for midnight."
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I didn't pause to think. I didn't wait for legal filings or police warrants. My father had built those warehouses with his own hands forty years ago when he started the business. They were the foundation of everything we owned.
"Kyle, come with me," I ordered, striding past him toward the private elevator. "We're going to East Chicago."
