Chapter 127 Opening Salvo
Briar's POV
I stood at the podium, dozens of cameras pressing against my chest like a physical force. The lobby had transformed into a war zone of flashing lights and aggressive voices. Reporters packed every space, equipment creating a forest of tripods and boom mics. I caught Owen's eye near the live stream setup—his thumbs up steadied something wild inside me.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the press," I began, letting my voice carry across the chaos. "I'm Briar Vance, CEO of Vance Botanicals. Thank you for coming on such short notice."
A reporter in the front row stood immediately. "Ms. Vance, fitness influencer Kira posted medical documentation showing severe gastrointestinal distress after consuming your energy bars. The protein markers in her blood work were dangerously elevated. How do you explain poisoning your customers?"
I pressed the remote in my hand, and the screen behind me lit up. "I'm glad you brought that up. Here's the full medical report from Nightfall Pack Emergency Center, including the section your question conveniently omitted." I highlighted a specific paragraph. "Patient consumed large quantities of dairy products in combination with shellfish on the day of incident, resulting in protein overload unrelated to defendant's product."
The screen switched to screenshots from Kira's own social media. "Lobster mac and cheese, heavy cream sauce, consumed at 2 PM. Our energy bars contain deep-sea fish oil, which when combined with high-concentration dairy proteins can trigger an intestinal response. This wasn't product failure—this was a customer ignoring basic dietary guidelines."
I pulled up the diagnostic confirmation. "Here's the physician's report from Nightfall Pack. The symptoms were caused by an allergic reaction to marine proteins, exacerbated by dairy consumption. Our warning label clearly states not to consume with milk-based foods within a four-hour window."
The live stream comments were changing. I could feel the tide turning.
Another reporter jumped in. "What about the hundreds of complaints flooding social media? Are you claiming all of those customers are lying?"
I smiled, and it wasn't a kind expression. "No, I'm claiming they don't exist. Owen?"
My operations director wheeled out a cart stacked with file boxes. The reporters' cameras swiveled to capture every detail.
"Three days ago, we filed a fraud report with the Seattle Police Department," I said. "Yesterday morning, they raided a coordinated disinformation operation. Seventeen people were arrested, all of them part of a paid network creating fake reviews and false complaints across multiple platforms."
Owen opened the top box and pulled out printed evidence—screenshots, payment records, chat logs. "We have documentation of every fake account, every coordinated attack, every payment made to destroy our reputation."
The room erupted in shouted questions, but I raised my hand and the chaos settled.
"We didn't just report them for attacking us," I continued. "We reported them for fraud, for extortion, for running an illegal operation targeting multiple small businesses across the city."
A younger reporter near the back raised her hand. "Ms. Vance, there's video footage from inside your manufacturing facility showing serious health code violations. How do you address that?"
Before I could answer, heavy footsteps echoed from the lobby entrance. Three officials in Emerald Council uniforms walked through, their expressions professionally neutral but their timing suspiciously convenient. The lead inspector held up his credentials.
"Briar Vance? We need to speak with you regarding recent quality control concerns. Now, please."
Every camera in the room swung toward them. I glanced at Owen and saw him nod slightly—the stream was still running.
"Owen will continue the press conference and release all remaining evidence," I said. "The public deserves to see everything we've prepared."
I turned to the inspectors with a smile that showed too many teeth. "Gentlemen, I'm ready whenever you are."
---
They led me to a small conference room on the second floor. The lead inspector threw a folder onto the table hard enough to make the papers scatter.
"Warehouse Three sample analysis results," he said. "Additive levels forty-seven percent above legal limits. Sanitation standards failed on multiple counts. We're issuing immediate penalties—five hundred thousand dollar fine, three-month operational suspension, and revocation of your manufacturing license."
Three months of suspension would kill us. It was a death sentence dressed up in bureaucratic language.
"I want to see the testing footage and extraction records," I said. "Full chain of custody documentation."
The second inspector laughed without humor. "You don't have clearance for internal procedures."
The lead inspector picked up his coffee. "Of course, if you were to acknowledge the oversight and voluntarily recall the affected products, we could potentially adjust the penalties. Reduce the fine to two hundred thousand, shorten the suspension to one month. Show good faith cooperation."
I stared at him, feeling my wolf's rage crystallize into something cold and sharp. "'Cooperation' meaning I admit to violations I didn't commit?"
"It's in everyone's best interest."
I stood abruptly. "Excuse me. I need to make a call."
---
In the hallway, I dialed Owen. "Status update?"
"Still going strong. We've released the bot network evidence. Media's eating it up."
"Good. Pull security footage from Warehouse Three for the past week. Flag every person who isn't a verified employee. Contact our suppliers for documentation. And Owen—connect the live stream to our main production floor cameras. I want the public to see our actual operations in real time."
"Don't stop the stream no matter what. Keep broadcasting everything."
I returned to the conference room and opened the live stream on my phone, setting it on the table where they could see it. Owen's face filled the screen.
"These individuals claiming to be Vance Botanicals employees applied for positions three days ago," Owen was saying. "Homeless individuals offered cash for a day's work. Professional review scammers. People with criminal records for fraud. We deliberately assigned them to a decommissioned testing area. No products in circulation were affected."
The camera cut to footage from our main production floor—workers in full protective gear, equipment gleaming, every surface pristine.
I looked up at the inspectors. "When exactly were those samples extracted from Warehouse Three?"
The lead inspector's jaw tightened. "Four days ago. November seventeenth, ten AM."
"Batch numbers?"
"T3-1104-A through F."
I pulled up our digital records and slid my phone across the table. "Read the notation column."
His face went carefully blank.
"'Competitive analysis samples. Not for distribution,'" I read aloud. "Warehouse Three was converted to a sample storage facility two weeks ago. We use it to analyze competitor products. The contaminated samples you tested? Those aren't our products. That's NutriWolf brand supplements from Montgomery Medical Group."
The silence was absolute.
"You tested our competitors' inferior products and tried to use the results to shut us down," I continued softly. "Interesting timing. Almost like someone paid you to finish the job."
The third inspector cleared his throat. "There may have been some... confusion in the sampling process."
"Confusion." I stood slowly. "My legal team will coordinate directly with your supervisors and the state oversight board. We'll be filing formal complaints about your procedures and your very interesting suggestion that I 'cooperate' by confessing to violations I didn't commit."
I walked to the door, then paused. "Oh, and gentlemen? That press conference is still streaming live. My legal director has been listening to this entire conversation through my phone's speaker. Everything you said about 'cooperation' and reducing penalties? That's all recorded and uploaded to secure servers."
All three inspectors had gone pale.
"You might want to be more careful about which companies you target," I said pleasantly. "Because if this gets out—if the public learns Emerald Council inspectors take bribes to destroy legitimate businesses while protecting corporate monopolies—consumer confidence in your entire regulatory system will collapse."
The lead inspector set down his cup with a trembling hand. "We'll... review our procedures."