Chapter 6 - THE GOLDEN CAGE
With Richard exiled to the Manhattan penthouse, Sophia wasted no time transforming the Greenwich estate into her personal command center.
By Thursday morning, she had replaced three long-standing domestic staff members with private contractors hired through an unlisted agency in New Jersey. She claimed it was for "security and personal comfort" after her traumatic experience. In reality, she was clearing the house of anyone loyal to the old man.
Ethan spent the day locked in his father’s former study, drunk on his sudden ascension to Chairman. Wall Street analysts praised the "generational transition," and Whitmore Global’s stock surged four percent on rumors that the forty-billion-dollar merger with the European syndicate, Vance-Gauthier, was moving forward at record speed.
Sitting across from Ethan at the grand oak desk, Sophia rubbed his shoulders, leaning down to kiss his cheek.
"You were amazing at the board meeting, darling," she whispered smoothly. "Your father ran this company like a feudal kingdom. You're bringing it into the modern world."
"He thought I couldn't handle it," Ethan said, swirling a glass of aged bourbon. "He thought I was just a rider on his coat-tails. By Friday afternoon, when the Vance-Gauthier deal closes, I'll have secured more capital in one day than he did in five years."
"Speaking of the closing documents," Sophia said casually, pulling a blue-bound folder from her leather tote bag. "The offshore clearing accounts in the Cayman Islands need your secondary signature. It's standard procedure for the European tax exemption structure."
Ethan picked up his pen without opening the folder. "Did legal review it?"
"Victoria’s team passed it through an hour ago," Sophia lied softly, leaning closer. "They're just waiting on the Chairman's mark."
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Ethan signed his name on the dotted line: Ethan Whitmore, Executive Chairman.
He didn't notice that the secondary account listed on page forty-two wasn't an escrow account for Vance-Gauthier. It was a shell corporation registered under the name S. Laurent Holdings—a company owned entirely by Sophia.
