Chapter 7 - The Gallery Vote
The 48th floor of the Dami Technology Tower looked like a cathedral built out of brushed steel and gray glass. The boardroom table was a thirty-foot slab of black obsidian, polished until it reflected the white lights of the ceiling like a winter lake.
Charles Vance sat at the head of the table. He was sixty-two, with a face like an old ledger page—lined, yellowed, and full of numbers that didn't add up. Around him sat twelve board members, all of them wearing dark suits, their fingers tapping against their leather binders with a nervous, collective energy.
"The time is nine-fifty-five," Charles said, checking his gold pocket watch. "The Chairman has failed to respond to three consecutive statutory summons. Under Article 14 of the corporate bylaws, we have the necessary quorum to initiate the leadership transition."
The double doors at the end of the hall swung open.
Ethan Vance walked in first. He wasn't wearing the navy overcoat or the dark sweater. He wore a bespoke three-piece charcoal suit, his hair immaculate, his jaw set like stone. But it wasn't the Chairman that made the board members lean forward; it was the woman who walked beside him.
Lin Xia wore a simple, structured gray dress that fit her with a quiet, architectural elegance. She didn't look at the cameras or the directors; her eyes were fixed on the black obsidian table, her fingers holding the small red civil registry booklet against her hip like a weapon.
"You're late, Charles," Ethan said, walking to the empty chair at the center of the table and sitting down without looking at his uncle. Xia took her place in the high-backed leather chair directly behind him in the visitor's gallery, right under the lens of the main corporate camera feed.
"Ethan," Charles said, his voice cracking slightly before he recovered his boardroom rumble. "This isn't an operational review. This is an extraordinary general meeting called to address your abandonment of your duties. You’ve been missing for five days without an executive convoy."
"I was conducting an audit of our primary consumer touchpoints in the West District," Ethan said, leaning back and crossing his legs. "I spent four days on Seventh Road. The logistics data we've been receiving from the third-tier division is fraudulent, Charles. The local managers have been overreporting delivery efficiency by eleven percent to claim the seasonal bonus."
A low murmur went through the directors at the far end of the table. One of them, a man named Director Zhao, quickly closed his laptop screen.
"That's an operational detail!" Charles snapped, his hand hitting the obsidian with a dull thud. "The market doesn't care about Seventh Road! The market cares about the Singapore merger! The private equity firm has withdrawn their offer because you refuse to stabilize your personal assets! You’re thirty-four, unmarried, and your lifestyle is a direct risk to our credit rating!"
"My personal assets are perfectly stable, Uncle," Ethan said, his voice dropping into that cool, unhurried baritone that cleared the air in the room. He reached back without looking, his fingers opening.
Xia stood up from her chair, her steps steady against the plush carpet. She placed the red marriage booklet directly into his palm.
Ethan laid the book on the obsidian table and slid it across the polished surface until it stopped right in front of his uncle’s water glass.
"My wife, Lin Xia," Ethan said, his charcoal eyes locking onto Charles’s face with a pressure that made the older man’s jaw drop. "She’s a partner at the Lin Design Group, and her family has been managing logistics in the West District for forty years. Under the terms of my grandmother's will, my marriage certificate automatically releases the voting blocks for the third-tier trust. I now control fifty-two percent of the common stock, Charles."
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He leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table, his face inches from his uncle's.
"The leadership transition is denied," Ethan said. "Now let's talk about why you’ve been buying shares through a shell company in the Cayman Islands."
