Chapter 12 - The Boardroom Coup
"Security!" Robert roared, his panic completely overriding his polished facade. "Get this man out of here! He's a disturbed intruder!"
Three massive men in suits stepped forward, but before they could reach me, the heavy ballroom doors swung open. A dozen FBI agents in windbreakers stormed into the room, their badges flashing under the chandeliers. The gala erupted into chaos as wealthy guests screamed and scrambled out of the way.
"Robert Sterling, Eleanor Sterling, nobody move!" the lead agent shouted.
Robert backed away from the podium, his eyes darting frantically around the room, looking for an escape route. "This is an outrage! I am the CEO of this company!"
"No, you aren't," I said smoothly, stepping up to the microphone. I pulled a thick legal document from my jacket and slapped it onto the podium. "Arthur Sterling transferred fifty-one percent of all corporate voting shares to me via an offshore trust before he died. I am the majority shareholder. And as my first act as the true CEO, I am firing you, Robert. Effective immediately."
"You little bastard," Robert hissed, lunging at me.
I didn't flinch. I sidestepped his clumsy attack, and two FBI agents instantly tackled him to the floor, pinning his arms behind his back.
"Robert Sterling, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, corporate fraud, and racketeering," the agent recited, snapping heavy steel handcuffs onto my uncle's wrists.
My mother was frozen in place, trembling violently as an agent approached her with handcuffs. She looked at me, her eyes pleading, trying to summon the maternal bond she had destroyed years ago.
"Elias, please," she cried, tears streaming down her face. "I'm your mother! You can't let them do this! I was forced into it! Robert made me!"
"I saw the tapes from the study, Mother," I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion. "I saw you hand him the poison. You killed the only man in this family who actually cared about us. You are dead to me."
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As they dragged my screaming mother out of the ballroom, I looked out at the stunned crowd of elites. The syndicate representatives who had been in the audience were already trying to quietly slip out the back exits, but the FBI had sealed the building.
The nightmare was finally over. The poison in the Sterling family had been violently, permanently extracted.
