The mahogany doors of the Lancaster Holdings boardroom creaked open like a vault giving up its secrets.
The board members—gray-suited, gray-templed, gray-souled—looked up in unison as Silas Lancaster entered, one hand braced against the wall, the other gripping his cane like it might betray him.
A ripple of shock surged across the room.
He wasn't supposed to walk.He wasn't supposed to talk.He wasn't supposed to be here.
But there he stood—gaunt and grim and absolutely deliberate.
He made it three steps in before his voice cut through the silence, low and sandpaper-rough:
"My wife," he said, "will oversee the pharmaceutical division in my stead."
The words dropped like a detonator.
Boom.
Silence turned to static.
Across the table, Charles Lancaster, Silas's uncle and longtime rival, sputtered into his teacup. The porcelain clattered against the saucer as he gaped.
"A woman?" he scoffed. "And a Nan at that? You've got to be joking."
The men around him nodded in nervous agreement. One cleared his throat like he hoped the sound might banish the awkwardness.
Sienna stepped forward without hesitation.
Her heels clicked sharply on the marble floor, each step measured, each movement clean. She dropped a folder on the table with a satisfying thud and smiled.
"A Nan, yes," she said sweetly, her voice dripping calm venom."One who just patented a reformulation that salvaged your failed antibiotic line and is projected to increase next quarter's revenue by 16.4%."
She leaned in, voice silken:
"Shall we discuss profits… or prejudices?"
Silence.
Then shouting.
The room erupted in a cacophony of indignant voices and rustling papers. Accusations flew like darts. Some murmured approval, others spit objections. The old guard didn't like their throne room being invaded.
But Sienna didn't blink.
She stood in the center of the storm, calm as a dagger in silk.
Only Silas—silent now, eyes shadowed—noticed the side door inch open.
Joyce slipped out, her movements ghost-smooth.
In her hand, barely concealed beneath her shawl, was a folded document.
From his coat pocket.
And just like that, the game changed again.