Chapter 6 - Enter the Lion: Julian Thorne Claims the Boardroom
At 1:30 p.m., the boardroom of Vance Enterprises on the forty-second floor of Vance Tower was an abattoir of panicked executives.
The mahogany table was covered in half-eaten pastries, abandoned coffee cups, and stacks of financial reports that were now completely worthless. Eleven board members—men in their fifties and sixties who had spent decades collecting six-figure consulting fees while the company slowly rotted from within—were shouting over one another.
"Where the hell is Preston?"
"The stock is down fifty-two percent! The SEC is going to halt trading for the rest of the week!"
"If we don't meet the debt covenant by two o'clock, the creditors will seize the building!"
The heavy double oak doors of the boardroom were thrown open with such force that the brass handles gouged the drywall.
Preston stumbled in, soaking wet, his shirt sticking to his chest, his eyes wild and bloodshot.
"Gentlemen! Quiet! Everyone shut up!" Preston screamed, slamming his palms onto the mahogany table. "We have a temporary liquidity issue! That is all! I am negotiating with secondary lenders as we speak!"
"Negotiating with whom, Preston?" an elderly board member demanded, rising to his feet. "Your name is toxic! Every hedge fund in the city knows Victoria Sterling pulled her fifty million! You abandoned her at the rehearsal dinner for a woman who has bled this company dry!"
"Lily had an emergency!" Preston roared, his face turning purple with rage. "And Victoria is a spiteful, vindictive woman who will come crawling back the moment she realizes she can't replace me! She’s just trying to scare us! We hold the line! We do not concede!"
The boardroom doors opened again.
This time, there was no loud bang. There was only the quiet, terrifying presence of authority.
Julian Thorne walked into the room, followed by four corporate attorneys in bespoke navy suits and two armed private bailiffs carrying official court orders.
The entire boardroom went dead silent.
Preston turned, his jaw dropping. "Thorne? What the hell are you doing here? This is a closed board meeting! Get out of my building!"
Julian didn't look at Preston. He walked slowly to the head of the table, pulled out the high-backed leather chair reserved for the Chairman of the Board, and sat down. He placed a leather folder on the wood, opened it, and laced his long fingers together.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen," Julian said, his baritone voice commanding the room with absolute ease. "As of twelve o'clock noon today, Vance Enterprises defaulted on its three-hundred-and-twenty-million-dollar senior debt facility."
"We have a grace period!" Preston yelled, rushing toward the table. "Our contract states we have until five o'clock!"
One of Julian’s attorneys stepped forward, sliding a document across the table. "Section 14, Paragraph B of the revised credit agreement," the attorney said briskly. "In the event of a material adverse change in corporate liquidity exceeding twenty-five million dollars, the creditor reserves the right to accelerate the maturity date immediately without notice."
Preston grabbed the paper, his hands shaking so violently that the pages fluttered. "Who is the creditor? JP Morgan wouldn't do this!"
"JP Morgan sold the debt note at ten o'clock this morning," Julian said, looking directly into Preston’s hollow, terrified eyes. "Thorne Global and Sterling Capital are now your sole creditors."
The elderly board members collapsed back into their chairs, several of them clutching their chests.
"You..." Preston whispered, his voice trembling. "Victoria... she went to you?"
"Miss Sterling did not need to go to me," Julian replied with cold amusement. "I came to her. We have been monitoring the structural decay of this company for eighteen months, Preston. Your incompetence was an open secret. Your betrayal this morning simply provided the catalyst."
Julian stood up, towering over Preston.
"By order of the New York State Supreme Court, Commercial Division," Julian declared, "the Board of Directors of Vance Enterprises is hereby dissolved. The executive officers are terminated effective immediately. You, Preston Vance, are no longer CEO. You are no longer an employee. You are a trespasser."
"You can't do this!" Preston lunged across the table, trying to grab Julian’s lapels. "This is my family's name! This building has my name carved into the limestone!"
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Julian caught Preston’s wrist in mid-air with a grip like an iron vice. He twisted it slightly, forcing Preston down onto his knees with effortless strength.
"The limestone," Julian whispered down at him, "will be sandblasted tomorrow morning. Now get out of this building before I have you carried out in zip-ties."
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