Chapter 1 - The Gathering of Vultures
The banquet hall buzzed with the sound of clinking glasses and hollow sympathies. I sat in the center of it all, playing the perfect, tragic victim. Through the rim of my champagne flute, I watched Eleanor float across the room. She was already working the crowd, pressing her cheek against the faces of my board members, playing the role of the devoted, grief-stricken fiancée.
Maya remained by my side. She didn’t speak, but her presence was a quiet anchor in a sea of sharks. She discreetly handed me a napkin when my hand intentionally trembled, spilling a drop of water.
“Thank you, Maya,” I murmured, my voice raspy.
“Of course, Mr. Sterling,” she replied softly, her eyes darting toward Eleanor with a flash of disguised disgust.
Across the room, my Uncle Richard cornered my Chief Financial Officer. I couldn't hear their exact words, but I didn't need to. The predatory glint in Richard’s eyes said it all. He was securing votes. They were preparing a motion for the upcoming board meeting to declare me medically unfit to run Sterling Industries.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket. A single text from my head of security, who was monitoring the estate’s hidden cameras: The bait is taken. Richard and Eleanor are meeting in the west wing study.
May you like
I let my head loll slightly to the side, pretending the exhaustion was taking over. "Maya," I whispered. "Would you be so kind as to wheel me to the library? The noise is becoming... too much."
"Right away, sir," she said, carefully turning my chair. As she rolled me past the glittering crowd, I closed my eyes, a cold smile forming in my mind. Let them feast. They had no idea the banquet was poisoned.
