Chapter 17 - The Ghost at the Boardroom Table
The heavy mahogany doors of the executive boardroom were slightly ajar, leaking the frantic sound of raised voices out into the quiet hallway.
"...I don't care what the auditors say!" Richard Bennett’s voice boomed, thick with rage and laced with the undeniable panic of a man realizing his house of cards was tumbling down. "Find the leak! Someone on this board sold us out to Caldwell Global! Find out who bought those shares, or I swear to God, I'll fire every single one of you!"
I didn't bother knocking. With a steady, unhesitating hand, I pushed the heavy doors wide open and stepped into the room. Ethan followed close behind me, his expression an impenetrable mask of cold indifference.
The shouting instantly died. All heads snapped toward the entrance.
Richard stood at the head of the long conference table, his face flushed a violent shade of crimson, his thinning gray hair disheveled. The remaining senior partners sat around him, looking exhausted, terrified, and utterly defeated.
When Richard’s eyes landed on me, his jaw slackened. For a second, he looked as though he had seen a phantom. Then, rage flooded his features, twisting his face into an ugly grimace.
"What is *she* doing here?" Richard roared, slamming his palms flat against the polished wood table. He pointed a shaking, accusing finger directly at me. "Security! Who let this ungrateful, pathetic little parasite past the lobby? Get her out of my building before I have her thrown out on the street!"
Not a single security guard moved. In fact, the two guards standing by the doorway simply lowered their eyes and stared at the floor, perfectly aware of who actually signed their paychecks now.
I didn't flinch. I didn't shrink. Instead, I walked slowly toward the head of the table, my gaze locked onto my father’s terrified eyes.
"You really should learn to check your portfolio, Richard," I said, my voice eerily calm, cutting through the heavy silence of the room. "You might be surprised to see whose name is currently listed as the majority beneficiary of your entire enterprise."
Richard scoffed, though a bead of nervous sweat dripped down his temple. "You? Don't make me laugh. You couldn't afford a cup of coffee at the cafeteria downstairs without my allowance. You're nothing! A stain on this family—just like you were at Victoria’s wedding!"
The mention of the wedding caused a few of the senior partners to shift uncomfortably in their seats. They all remembered that night. They had all watched Richard publicly humiliate his own daughter over a spilled glass of red wine, thinking there would never be any consequences.
"Ah, yes," I murmured, stopping just a few feet away from him. "The wedding. You poured red wine all over my dress, Richard. You thought you were breaking me. You thought you were reminding me of my place."
I reached into my blazer pocket, pulled out a thick, leather-bound document, and tossed it casually onto the table. It slid across the polished wood, coming to a halt directly in front of Richard’s trembling hands.
He looked down at the gold-embossed lettering. The color drained entirely from his face, leaving him looking like a corpse.
"Read it," I whispered softly. "It’s the deed of restructuring. Caldwell Global didn't just buy out your investors, Richard. Ethan and I bought your debt. We own this building. We own your assets. We own *you*."
Richard grabbed the document, his eyes scanning the pages frantically, the horror dawning on him in real time. "No... no, this isn't possible. This is fraud! I built this company from the ground up!"
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"And now," Ethan spoke up for the first time, his deep voice rolling across the room like thunder, "it burns to the ground. Effective immediately, Richard Bennett, you are stripped of your title, your shares, and your office."
***
