Chapter 20 - The Empire and the Recipe
Years of hard work, resilience, and unwavering self-respect had led me to this exact moment.
As the clock on my office wall ticked toward 10:00 a.m., I looked around my office one last time before the board members arrived. Every framed photograph on my wall, every architectural rendering on my desk, every brick of the forty-one commercial properties bearing my name stood as a testament to what a woman can achieve when she refuses to be played for a fool.
Daniel and Patricia Mercer were distant memories of a lesson learned the hard way: never let anyone belittle your labor, and never let a wolf wear sheep's clothing at your dinner table. Short ribs were a promise—you don't rush them, you give them all night, and you never, ever let someone else steal them off your counter.
When the boardroom doors swung open at 10:00 a.m., Marcus, Naomi, Maya, and the rest of my executive team walked in, their faces beaming with confidence and shared ambition.
“Ready to acquire a skyscraper, Claire?” Marcus asked with a grin.
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I stood up, buttoned my blazer, and walked toward the conference room doors with my head held high, my posture unyielding, and my heart completely at peace.
“Let’s go build an empire,” I said.
