Chapter 5 - The War on the Sterling Hive
Word of the scandal exploded across media outlets by Monday morning.
BILLIONAIRE CEO THANE STERLING HAS MOTHER AND SISTER ARRESTED FOR ARMED HEIST AND ATTEMPTED POISONING OF PREGNANT WIFE.
The headlines dominated financial news and tabloids alike. While my stock prices took a temporary dip, I took immediate control of the narrative, releasing the unedited 4K video footage of Corrine pulling Alora’s hair and Sloan swinging the sledgehammer directly to major news networks. Public sympathy shifted instantaneously. The world was horrified by the brazen cruelty of the Sterling matriarch.
However, toxic family trees have deep roots.
By Wednesday afternoon, my office at Sterling Global Headquarters was ambushed by the rest of the leech-filled extended family. My Uncle Richard, Aunt Beatrice, and three of my adult cousins pushed past corporate security into the executive lobby, demanding an emergency meeting.
When I stepped out of my office surrounded by six private security guards, my Uncle Richard pointed a trembling finger at me.
"Thane! Have you lost your mind?!" Richard roared, his face red with indignation. "You put your own mother in a maximum-security prison?! You ruined Sloan’s youth over a stupid family dispute?!"
"A dispute?" I asked, folding my arms. "They broke into my home, assaulted my wife, and tried to poison my child."
"She’s your mother, Thane!" Aunt Beatrice chimed in, weeping dramatically into a handkerchief. "Family forgives family! What will people say at the country club? You have billions! Just give Corrine and Sloan a few million, buy them off, and drop the charges!"
"She's right!" my cousin Damon added self-righteously. "You’re acting like a cold-hearted tyrant, Thane. If you don't release Mom and Sloan, we’re going to the press and telling them how you abandoned your extended family!"
I looked at the five of them. For years, I had quietly funded their extravagant lifestyles. I paid for Damon’s tuition (which he dropped out of), funded Richard’s failed restaurant ventures, and paid the mortgage on Beatrice’s villa in Malibu. I had treated them with generosity, believing that blood meant loyalty.
Now I saw them for what they truly were: a swarm of locusts terrified that their primary source of free money was closing its gates.
"Marcus," I called out over my shoulder.
My attorney stepped forward holding a stack of thick legal files.
"Uncle Richard," I said smoothly. "The mortgage on your house in Malibu is held by a holding company owned by my private equity firm. Effective 5:00 P.M. today, I am foreclosing on the property for non-payment of interest."
Richard gasped, stumbling back. "You... you can't do that!"
"Aunt Beatrice," I continued, turning to her. "The $500,000 allowance you receive annually from the Sterling Family Trust has been permanently revoked under clause 14B—gross misconduct against the trust primary benefactor."
Beatrice clutched her pearl necklace, gasping for air.
"And Damon," I looked at my lazy cousin. "Security will escort you from your office on the third floor immediately. You are fired from your vice-presidency role at Sterling Global. Pack your desk."
"Thane, please!" Damon cried out, his cocky attitude shattering instantly. "I have car payments! I have a boat!"
"Get out of my building," I commanded, my voice echoing through the marble lobby. "If any of you set foot on my properties, contact my wife, or speak to the press, I will unleash my legal team to audit every single dollar I have ever lent you and sue you into absolute bankruptcy."
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They stood paralyzed, realizing that the gentle, generous nephew they thought they could push around was officially gone. Security stepped forward, forcefully ushering the screaming, weeping leeches out of the glass doors.
The hive had been purged. Now it was time for the trial.
