Chapter 6 - Samantha’s Arrogance Meets A Frozen Trust
While Victor was drowning in his own misery, his sister Samantha decided to take matters into her own hands.
Convinced that Penelope had somehow engineered this entire catastrophe to humiliate the Reynolds family, Samantha marched into the downtown offices of First Virginia Trust & Commercial Title at 9:00 AM the following morning.
Samantha managed the commercial properties that housed the Reynolds Engineering design studios and equipment yards. For eight years, the leases had been structured through an umbrella holding entity called A-Vance Holdings.
Samantha slammed her designer leather folder onto the senior trust officer’s desk.
“I am Samantha Reynolds, Vice President of Reynolds Commercial Asset Management,” she announced imperiously. “Pursuant to the divorce decree finalized yesterday between my brother and Penelope Vance, I am executing our corporate right of first refusal to purchase the freehold deeds for the three commercial office parks currently leased under A-Vance Holdings.”
The senior trust officer, an elderly gentleman named Harold Croft, adjusted his bifocals and looked at Samantha with quiet, unbothered amusement.
“Miss Reynolds,” Croft said calmly, pulling up a file on his terminal. “I’m afraid you are operating under a profound legal misunderstanding.”
“What misunderstanding?” Samantha sneered. “Penelope’s little trust fund was an ordinary regional account funded by her late father’s estate. Under Virginia commercial law, our twenty-year lease grants us the unilateral option to acquire the underlying land upon a change in marital status!”
Croft slowly spun his monitor around to face her.
“A-Vance Holdings is not a Virginia domestic trust, Miss Reynolds,” Croft explained, pointing to the international registration seals. “It is a subsidiary of Vance Global Maritime & Infrastructure PLC, chartered under the High Court of Chancery in London, England. The sole controlling trustee is Lady Penelope Vance.”
Samantha froze, her eyes scanning the international corporate hierarchy.
“Lady... what?”
“Furthermore,” Croft continued, clicking a document tab, “the ten-year commercial lease for Reynolds Engineering expired at midnight last night. Under the explicit instructions received this morning from the High Court in London, the lease will not be renewed under any circumstances. You have fourteen days to vacate the eighty-thousand-square-foot corporate headquarters in Richmond, as well as the heavy equipment yards in Norfolk.”
Samantha’s breath caught in her throat. Her face turned an ugly, mottled gray.
May you like
“You can’t evict us! That headquarters houses all our main servers, our engineering licenses, and our physical testing labs! It would cost eight million dollars to relocate!”
“Then I suggest you start packing your boxes today, Miss Reynolds,” Croft said, closing the folder. “Security has already been instructed to revoke your keycards at 5:00 PM.”
Related Stories
