Chapter 4 - The Mistress Walked Into HeadquartersBy Monday morning, everybody at Vance Global knew something had happened.
Nobody knew what.
Luca arrived at headquarters at 7:15 wearing the same confident expression he had worn for years.
The receptionist greeted him.
Employees nodded.
Managers stepped aside.
To everyone watching, he was still Arthur Vance’s heir apparent.
But at 8:00, Rachel called an emergency board meeting.
I entered the conference room last.
Luca was already there.
His expression hardened when he saw me.
Arthur joined remotely from his estate.
Rachel stood at the head of the table.
“Mr. Vance has requested several immediate governance changes.”
Luca leaned back.
“This is ridiculous.”
Rachel ignored him.
“Effective immediately, Luca Vance is suspended from authority involving acquisitions, company financing, asset transfers, and executive appointments pending an internal review.”
The room exploded into whispers.
Luca shot to his feet.
“You can't do that.”
Arthur’s voice came through the screen.
“I can.”
Luca looked at the monitor.
“You're humiliating me.”
“No.”
Arthur answered calmly.
“You did that yourself.”
Then Rachel announced my appointment as interim chief operating officer.
Luca stared at me with naked hatred.
The meeting ended twenty minutes later.
Outside the conference room, he caught my arm.
“Enjoying this?”
I pulled free.
“Don't touch me.”
“You've wanted this for years.”
I stared at him.
“You genuinely believe that?”
“You played the loyal wife until Dad got sick.”
I almost slapped him.
Instead, I stepped closer.
“You slept with another woman while telling her your father would die soon enough to make you rich.”
His eyes flickered toward nearby employees.
“Lower your voice.”
That almost made me smile.
Now he cared about appearances.
“You should have thought about appearances before booking hotel rooms with Chloe.”
His face changed.
“Leave her out of this.”
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You didn't defend me once.”
He remained silent.
“But you immediately defended her.”
For the first time, I understood something that made everything easier.
My marriage wasn't worth saving.
I walked away.
At noon, the receptionist called.
“Jessi, there's a woman here asking for Luca.”
I didn't need to ask her name.
Chloe Mercer walked through the glass doors wearing a camel coat, high heels, and an expression that suggested she believed she was entering a building she would soon partially own.
She was younger than me.
Maybe thirty-two.
Beautiful.
Polished.
And completely unaware that Luca’s promised kingdom had disappeared.
She saw me.
Recognition flashed across her face.
“Jessi.”
“Chloe.”
Neither of us offered a hand.
Luca emerged from the elevator.
His face went white.
“What are you doing here?”
“I've been calling you.”
“Not here.”
“You disappeared.”
“Chloe.”
She looked between us.
Something finally registered.
“What happened?”
Luca grabbed her elbow.
“We need to talk outside.”
She resisted.
“You said everything was handled.”
Several employees stopped pretending not to listen.
Luca’s voice dropped.
“Outside.”
“You told me your father signed everything years ago.”
Arthur’s executive assistant froze nearby.
So did I.
Luca looked terrified.
“What did you just say?”
Chloe turned toward me.
“He said Arthur had already arranged for him to inherit controlling ownership.”
Luca whispered her name like a warning.
But Chloe had begun to understand.
“Wait.”
She looked at him.
“You don't have it?”
“Let's go.”
“The company isn't yours?”
Luca pulled her toward the door.
Chloe jerked away.
“You lied to me?”
I almost laughed at the absurdity.
The mistress had just discovered the cheating husband had cheated her too.
Luca stormed outside.
Chloe followed.
I returned to my office.
Ten minutes later, Rachel entered.
“Did you hear what she said?”
“Yes.”
“That could matter.”
“How?”
Rachel closed the door.
“Arthur never told Luca exactly how the voting shares were structured.”
I frowned.
“So?”
“So if Luca told Chloe he had already seen documents guaranteeing him control…”
She paused.
“…we need to know what documents he saw.”
A chill crawled over my skin.
“You think he accessed confidential estate files?”
“I don't know.”
Rachel looked toward the hallway.
“But we're going to find out.”
That afternoon, our IT director examined Luca’s company credentials.
At 6:40, he called me.
“Jessi, you need to see this.”
I walked downstairs to the server room.
He turned his monitor toward me.
Someone using Luca’s credentials had accessed a restricted legal directory seven times during the previous month.
One file had been downloaded.
Arthur_Vance_Estate_Trust_Draft.
My stomach dropped.
“Can we tell what happened to it?”
“Not yet.”
Then he opened another log.
A file had been uploaded from Luca’s laptop three days later.
Same filename.
Different file size.
I stared at the screen.
“What does that mean?”
The IT director looked at me.
“It means somebody may have downloaded Arthur’s trust document…”
He swallowed.
“…changed it…”
Then pointed toward the screen.
“…and uploaded a replacement.”
Suddenly, Luca’s affair wasn't our biggest problem.
May you like
Neither was the inheritance.
Someone may have been preparing to steal Arthur Vance’s company before the old man was even dead.
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