Chapter 10 - The Phoenix Rises on Wall Street
The floor of the New York Stock Exchange was buzzing with electric energy.
Traders in blue jackets stood beneath the massive digital displays,
their eyes locked on the central podium overlooking the trading floor.
The clock on the wall read 9:25 AM.
Five minutes before the opening bell.
Short-sellers and hedge funds had spent the past three days betting heavily against Ashford-Vane Global stock,
hoping the scandal of Grant Ashford’s arrest would send the shares plummeting into insolvency.
They expected a weakened company.
They expected leadership chaos.
They expected a vulnerable heiress who would sell off corporate assets at bargain prices.
They were about to be severely disappointed.
At 9:27 AM,
I stepped onto the balcony platform overlooking the trading floor.
I was dressed in a tailored midnight-blue suit with sharp,
structured shoulders and a single gold brooch pinned to my lapel—my father’s original corporate crest.
Standing beside me were Arthur Sterling,
Carter Vance,
and the newly appointed executive committee of Ashford-Vane Global.
Below us,
hundreds of financial analysts,
journalists,
and television cameras pointed up at the podium.
The Master of Ceremonies handed me the silver mallet used to ring the opening bell.
I stepped up to the podium microphone.
The entire floor of the stock exchange fell silent.
“Good morning,
Wall Street,”
I said,
my voice carrying across the floor,
broadcast live to millions of viewers on CNBC,
Bloomberg,
and Fox Business.
“Over the past week,”
I began,
“Ashford-Vane Global experienced an attempt by fraudulent actors to compromise our corporate integrity.”
“Those actors have been removed.”
“Their illegal transactions have been completely reversed.”
“And the fourteen million dollars in stolen assets has been fully restored to our corporate accounts.”
A wave of cheers and applause broke out among several senior floor traders.
“Today,”
I continued,
my eyes scanning the sea of monitors,
“I assume the role of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.”
“We are not selling assets.”
“We are not restructuring for survival.”
“Effective immediately,
Ashford-Vane Global is acquiring three luxury resort properties in Europe,
funded entirely by our liquid reserves.”
“Our projections for the fiscal quarter have been revised upward by twenty percent.”
The digital boards across the stock exchange floor flashed brightly as financial analysts processed the news in real time.
The pre-market trading prices for our stock suddenly spiked,
jumping eight percent in seconds,
crushing the short-sellers who had bet against us.
The digital clock hit 9:30:00 AM.
I lifted the silver mallet and struck the brass opening bell three times.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
The trading floor erupted into wild cheers,
applause,
and frantic shouting as orders flooded the digital market.
Green numbers flashed across every screen on Wall Street.
Ashford-Vane Global stock was soaring to an all-time high.
Standing at the balcony railing,
looking down at the success of the enterprise my father had built,
I felt no lingering anger toward Grant.
I felt no bitterness toward Piper.
They were small,
insignificant figures fading into the background of a legal system that would keep them behind bars for years.
Grant was in a prison cell,
facing twenty years for a crime that had yielded him nothing,
grieving a daughter that was never his.
Piper was facing criminal indictment,
bankrupt and disgraced.
And I was standing at the top of the world.
My name was Vivienne Vane.
I had reclaimed my father’s legacy.
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I had destroyed the parasite who tried to steal my life.
And I had proven to the entire world that the day Grant Ashford underestimated me...
