Elena began to walk up the grand staircase, her movements slow and predatory. Every step she took seemed to shrink Tom's highest level of respect. By the time she reached the first floor she was looking down at him.
"You traded a diamond for a piece of broken glass, Tom," she whispered, leaning in so only he could hear the ice in her voice.
"You called me 'fragile.' You called me 'useless.' But while you were playing King in a house made of cards, I was the one holding the wind."
She reached out and snatched the master keycard from his trembling hand.
"Security," Elena said, not taking her eyes off Tom.
"Escort Mr. Phoenix and his... associate... to the taxi. They are allowed to take nothing but the clothes on their backs. And Tom?"
Tom looked up, his eyes red and filled with a pathetic, belated regret.
"Elena... please... I didn't know..."
"Make sure you leave the cufflinks," she said, her voice devoid of any warmth.
"I paid for them with my 'secret savings.' And I don't like my property being touched by thieves."
The security team moved in. As Tom was dragged toward the elevator, screaming about "misunderstandings," and Sandra was led away in tears, Elena turned to the lobby full of employees.
"Back to work," she commanded.
"The name on the door is changing. From today, this is the Luo Logistics Hub. And I am your new CEO."
Behind her, Silas watched with a dark, satisfied smile. The Lion hadn't just roared, she had claimed her territory.
They reached the elevator. Inside, the silence was thick. Elena caught her reflection in the mirror and realized she was still holding the jade seal so hard her knuckles were white.
"You did well," Silas whispered, his voice dangerously close to her ear.
"The stock is currently worthless you bought his legacy for pennies."
"I don't want his legacy, Silas," Elena said, her voice cold.
"I want to bury it."
The doors opened to the top floor. The board members were already there, gathered together in panic around the large mahogany table. When Elena walked in, the room went silent.
"Gentlemen," Elena said, tossing the gold phone onto the table.
"As of five minutes ago, I am the primary shareholder of this firm. You have two choices, sign your loyalty over to the Luo Empire, or follow Tom out the door."
One elderly board member stood up, his face red.
"You can't do this! You're just... you're his wife!"
"I was his auditor first," Elena corrected, pulling a folder from Silas's hand.
"And according to these books, three of you have been taking kickbacks from Sandra's deals with Marcus, would you like me to read the amounts, or shall we get straight to the resignations?"
The man sank back into his chair, his mouth snapping shut.
Elena sat at the head of the table Tom's old seat. She looked at the empty chair beside her.
"Silas, take a seat. We have a lot of trash to clear out before lunch."
"I'm waiting," Elena said, her voice a cool, dangerous soft.
"The resignation papers are in front of you. You have sixty seconds before I release the audit of your offshore accounts to the Federal Bureau. I believe 'embezzlement' carries a fifteen-year sentence in this district." She said to the two shareholders.
The sound of pens scratching against paper was the only noise in the room. One by one, the men who had ignored Elena for six years, who had called her "the little housewife" behind her back, pushed their documents toward her. They didn't look her in the eye they couldn't.
"Good," Elena said, standing up.
"Elder Chen will escort you out. Don't bother clearing your desks anything left behind will be reduced to ashes."
As the board members scrambled to sign the new contracts, Silas leaned in.
"There's one more thing, Elena, about that night seven years ago... the night Maya was conceived."
Elena's heart skipped a beat. She looked at Silas, her mask of coldness slipping for a second. "What about it?"
"Tom didn't just lie about the DNA," Silas said, his eyes darkening.
"He wasn't even in the city that night. I managed to obtain the flight logs."
"You handled that with more grace than your father would have," Silas remarked.
"He usually preferred to break their spirits before taking their shares you just took the shares and let them break themselves."
Elena leaned against the mahogany table, the adrenaline that had sustained her all morning finally starting to dip, leaving a hollow ache in its place.
"I don't have time for theater, Silas. I have a daughter to protect and speaking of Maya..."
She straightened up, her gaze narrowing.
"You said Tom wasn't in the city the night she was conceived. You said you have the flight logs l, why do you have Tom's travel history from seven years ago? Why were you tracking a man who, at the time, was a nobody?"
Silas paused for the first time since she had known him, he looked... uncertain. He reached into his inner blazer pocket and pulled out a small, worn photograph he didn't hand it to her he placed it on the table between them.
It was a photo from the Luo Summer Gala, seven years ago. Elena was in the center, wearing a white dress, laughing, but in the background, partially obscured by a marble pillar, was a man, his face was in the shadows, but he was wearing a distinctive ring—a silver band with a blue sapphire, identical to the one Silas was wearing right now.
Elena felt the blood drain from her face her mind raced back to that night. The champagne, the blackout, the heavy scent of rain and expensive sandalwood in a dark room...
"You," she whispered, her voice trembling.
"It wasn't a mistake. It wasn't a 'pregnancy scare' Tom used to trap me. It was you."
"No it wasn't me....." Silas said, 'how I wish it was me,' he thought.
Elena felt ascertain numbness creeping from the tip of her fingers to her chest.
"If he wasn't there and it wasn't you.... then who was? But the ring on your finger look identical."
"This ring is common among my family members, however, the stones are different, that one on the person in the photo, has a blue sapphire stone , coated with gold, which belongs to the most powerful person, who holds the real power in the Luanda empire,"