Volume 1 Chapter 6 — The Opening Strike & The Queen’s Checkmate (首击成刃：女王的终局)

Ten o’clock in the morning. The grand press ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Hotel was packed to absolute capacity. Over fifty national and international media outlets, financial news networks, corporate analysts, and press photographers crammed the room, their high-definition cameras focused squarely on the elevated stage.

Behind a heavy oak podium decorated with corporate banners for Sterling Financial Group and Montgomery Logistics stood Victoria Sterling and Julian Montgomery.

Under the intense, sweltering glare of television stage lights, both antagonists looked visibly battered and exhausted. Victoria wore a dark navy designer suit that failed to conceal her pale, hollow cheeks, bloodshot eyes, and dark circles—the devastating aftermath of last night’s ruby forgery exposure at the Royal Opera House. Beside her, Julian stood in a crumpled tuxedo, his tie loosened, his disheveled hair and beads of cold sweat constantly breaking out across his forehead giving him the look of a hunted man.

Victoria leaned into the array of press microphones, clearing her throat to force a frail, practiced smile of corporate optimism.

“Distinguished members of the press, esteemed partners, and citizens of City A,” Victoria began, her voice trembling slightly before she forced it into a rigid, controlled tone. “We have called this emergency press conference to clarify the baseless rumors and malicious falsehoods circulating regarding last night’s charity auction. The so-called replica necklace presented on stage was the result of sophisticated corporate sabotage by foreign competitors attempting to undermine Sterling Financial Group’s stock stability. Our legal team has already filed criminal complaints with the federal authorities.”

A barrage of reporters instantly shouted out questions, pushing against security ropes and waving their microphones franticly.

“Madam Victoria! What about Sterling Group’s stock dropping over twenty percent in after-hours trading?!”

“Is it true your offshore bank accounts in Zurich have been frozen by debt collectors?!”

“Mr. Montgomery, are the rumors true that Montgomery Logistics is facing immediate debt default?!”

Julian stepped nervously to the podium, leaning close to the microphones, his voice shaky, defensive, and loud. “Montgomery Logistics remains fully operational! Our freight contracts are secure, and our strategic alliance with Sterling Group is unshakeable! We are launching a new ten-million-dollar liquidity facility this afternoon to ensure—”

Before Julian could finish his sentence, a loud, thunderous thud reverberated through the press ballroom.

The heavy, carved double oak doors at the rear of the press hall slammed open, hitting the stone walls with the reverberating force of a cannon shot.

The shouting reporters fell instantly silent. Fifty media camera crews turned their heavy lenses as one toward the rear aisle.

Marching down the center aisle came Elena Vance and Dominic Vance.

Elena was a vision of supreme, invincible executive royalty. She wore a sharply tailored double-breasted suit of pristine snow-white silk, accented by silver buttons and her ten-carat green diamond falcon wing brooch sparkling under the ceiling lights. Her dark hair was styled in sleek, gleaming waves, her posture radiating absolute, unshakeable authority. Beside her walked Dominic Vance, tall, broad-shouldered, and formidable in a dark charcoal bespoke suit, flanked by six senior corporate attorneys carrying heavy leather document briefs and two uniformed federal court bailiffs.

The sharp, rhythmic click of Elena’s heels against the hardwood floor resonated through the silent room like a drumbeat of approaching doom. Flashbulbs exploded in a deafening, blinding blizzard of white strobes as reporters scrambled out of the center aisle to clear her path.

Elena walked directly up the stage stairs. She ignored Victoria and Julian completely, stepping up to the side podium equipped with a digital media connector.

Dominic Vance stood at the edge of the stage, his arms crossed over his chest, his dark eyes sweeping over the room like an absolute monarch overseeing an execution.

Elena tapped her touchscreen tablet, connecting her device to the press ballroom’s main LED display screens. She then gestured to Vance Global’s Chief Legal Counsel.

The Chief Attorney stepped to the center microphone, unrolling a stack of certified legal documents stamped with the gold seal of the High Chancery Court of City A.

“Distinguished media,” the Chief Counsel announced, his voice booming clearly across the room. “As Chief Counsel for Vance Global, I am here to deliver two official, court-certified legal decrees executed at nine o’clock this morning.”

The Chief Attorney raised the first document. “Decree Number One: As of 9:00 AM today, Vance Global has executed default foreclosure on Montgomery Logistics due to catastrophic margin default under Section 8.4 of the Institutional Credit Facility. By order of the High Chancery Court, all corporate shares, operational assets, freight terminals, commercial real estate, and vehicle fleets of Montgomery Logistics are now one hundred percent owned and repossessed by Vance Global!”

*BAM!*

The announcement hit the room like a megaton warhead!

Julian let out a strangled gasp, his face turning a sickening shade of grey. “No… no! My company! You can’t do this! My father will kill me!”

“Decree Number Two!” the Chief Attorney continued, unrolling the second parchment. “Due to cross-collateral debt notes held against Sterling Financial Group, Vance Global has converted thirty million dollars of defaulted short debt into a certified fifteen percent controlling voting stake in Sterling Financial Group! Effective immediately, Vance Global is the single largest independent shareholder of Sterling Financial Group!”

Elena stepped forward to the main microphone. Her serene, regal voice cut through the rising uproar of the media corps.

“As fifteen percent controlling shareholder,” Elena declared coldly, her crystalline eyes locking onto Victoria’s catatonic face, “Vance Global hereby exercises its legal right under Article 12 of the Corporate Governance Code to call an Emergency Board Meeting for ten o’clock tomorrow morning… to remove Victoria Sterling from her position as Chair and elect new executive leadership.”

The entire press hall erupted into absolute chaos!

Photographers surged forward against the security barricades, flashbulbs popping in thousands of blinding strobes. Reporters stood on chairs, shouting questions, while the live television news banner across the nation flickered to a red breaking news flash:

**[BREAKING NEWS: VANCE GLOBAL FORECLOSES ON MONTGOMERY LOGISTICS. ACQUIRES 15% CONTROLLING STAKE IN STERLING GROUP.]**

—

On stage, Julian Montgomery’s mind snapped under the overwhelming weight of total ruin. His family’s multi-generational empire had been obliterated in less than twenty-four hours.

Desperate, weeping, and devoid of any remaining dignity, Julian suddenly threw himself across the stage floor. He dropped to his knees directly in front of Elena Vance, grabbing frantically at the hem of her white silk suit trousers.

“Elena! Elena, please! Have mercy!” Julian sniveled, tears and sweat dripping down his flushed face, his voice choked with pathetic sobs. “I was tricked by Chloe! It was Chloe and Victoria who pushed me into shorting Hyperion! I never loved Chloe! I’ll call off the engagement right now! I’ll publicly denounce them! Just give me back my family business! Please, Elena… I’ll be your servant! I’ll do anything you want!”

From the side stage entrance, Chloe Sterling had just arrived to join the press conference. She froze, watching her fiancé kneeling on the floor, weeping and begging another woman, offering to throw her away like trash live on national television.

Chloe’s eyes turned blood-red with hysterical rage. “Julian, you bastard!”

Chloe shrieked like a wild animal, lunging across the stage, her manicured nails aiming directly for Julian’s face. “You coward! You hypocrite! You swore you loved me!”

Julian turned and kicked Chloe away, pushing her onto the stage floor as the two began screaming and hitting each other in a grotesque, hysterical brawl.

“Get off me, you spoiled witch!” Julian screamed, punching at her hands. “You ruined my life! You and your terrible mother!”

“I hate you! I hope you rot in hell!” Chloe shrieked back, scratching at his face.

Two federal bailiffs and stage security guards rushed forward, grabbing Julian by his arms and pinning Chloe to the floor. The live television cameras captured every second of the disgraced couple’s hysterical, violent breakdown, broadcasting the pathetic end of their alliance to millions of households across the country.

Elena looked down at the sniveling, struggling man on his knees. She pulled her white pant leg cleanly out of his grasp, her face filled with supreme, detached disgust.

“Security,” Elena said softly, her voice cool and crisp, “remove the garbage from the stage.”

Julian and Chloe were dragged away kicking and weeping, their dignity, wealth, and future completely destroyed before the eyes of the entire world.

—

The media frenzy slowly subsided as security cleared the stage, leaving only Victoria Sterling standing rigidly near the podium.

Victoria was frozen in catatonic shock. Her hair was disheveled, her hands trembling uncontrollably. She had lost her transportation alliance, lost control of fifteen percent of her company’s voting shares, and was facing an emergency board meeting tomorrow that would strip her of all executive power.

Elena walked slowly across the stage, stopping directly in front of her stepmother. Dominic Vance walked beside her, his tall, imposing presence casting a dark, protective shadow over Elena.

Victoria looked up into Elena Vance’s eyes, her voice choked, raspy, and barely audible. “Who… who are you…? Why are you doing this to me…?”

Elena did not answer with words.

She gestured slightly to her assistant, who stepped forward holding a heavy, black velvet tray. Resting on the tray was a thick, black wax-sealed envelope.

Elena picked up the envelope and held it out to Victoria. “A gift for you, Madam Victoria. To remember this morning.”

Victoria’s trembling hands reached out, taking the envelope. The black wax seal was pressed with an intricate, familiar emblem—an emblem Victoria hadn’t seen in three long years.

With shaking fingers, Victoria tore open the heavy paper.

*Clink.*

A small, exquisite object fell from inside the envelope, bouncing onto the hardwood stage floor.

It was a mother-of-pearl personal stamp, carved with delicate cherry blossoms—the private personal seal of Astrid Sterling, which had belonged to her since her eighteenth birthday.

Victoria’s breath hitched violently. Blood drained completely from her face, leaving her as pale as a corpse.

She unfolded the heavy parchment note inside the envelope. Written upon it, in familiar, elegant, razor-sharp handwriting that Victoria had seen a thousand times during Astrid’s youth, was a single handwritten line:

*”The fire you lit three years ago in the snow has returned to consume you.”*

Victoria’s eyes widened in horrifying, absolute realization. The ghost… the heiress she had poisoned… the girl she had thrown into the blizzard to die…

“Astrid…” Victoria gasped, a violent tremor racking her entire body. “You… you are Astrid…!”

Elena Vance offered no confirmation, no denial. She merely stood before Victoria in her immaculate white suit, her lips curving into a cold, terrifying smile of absolute victory.

Victoria clutched her chest violently, her lungs gasping for air as her heart buckled under sheer, paralyzing terror. Her vision blurred, her knees gave out, and she collapsed unconscious into the arms of her panicked assistant on stage.

Elena did not grant the fallen woman another glance.

She turned calmly, placing her slender hand in the crook of Dominic Vance’s arm. Together, hand-in-hand, Elena Vance and Dominic Vance walked down the main aisle of the press ballroom, surrounded by the blinding strobes of fifty news cameras, stepping out into the bright morning sunshine of City A.

The opening strike of Volume 1 was complete.

The heiress they had tried to bury was now their master. And checkmate had been delivered.