Chapter 2 - The Warning
The figure on the balcony disappeared before I could see a face.
“Claire?” Arthur asked. “What is it?”
I locked my phone.
“Nothing.”
It was an obvious lie, but Ethan was already pushing through the crowd toward us.
“You can’t call a board meeting in the middle of my gala,” he said.
Arthur’s expression remained calm. “It’s the company’s gala, Ethan.”
“I’m the CEO.”
“For tonight.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
Vanessa rose from the chair and came to his side.
“Maybe everyone should take a breath,” she said.
I looked at her. “You’ve done enough sitting for one evening.”
A few people nearby heard me. Vanessa’s cheeks flushed.
Ethan grabbed my arm.
Not hard enough to leave a bruise.
Hard enough to deliver a warning.
“You’re making a scene.”
“No, Ethan. You made one when you nearly put your pregnant wife on the floor.”
He released me when Arthur looked down at his hand.
Arthur called the company secretary and ordered an emergency meeting upstairs in twenty minutes.
As executives began moving toward the elevators, Ethan blocked my path.
“We need to talk privately.”
“Anything you have to say can be said in front of the board.”
“This is our marriage.”
“You invited Vanessa into our marriage when you called her ‘babe.’”
Vanessa looked away.
Ethan lowered his voice. “You have no idea what those shares mean.”
“They mean Dad’s trust has ended and his voting rights have transferred to me.”
“That’s what Rachel told you?”
Rachel Kim was my attorney and one of my oldest friends.
“Yes.”
Ethan gave a short, humorless laugh. “Your father never trusted you with business decisions. That’s why he put me in charge.”
The words landed exactly where he wanted them to.
My father and I had loved each other, but we had fought during his final year. He believed Ethan was ambitious. I believed Ethan was misunderstood.
I had chosen my husband’s side.
My father died before I could admit he had been right.
The elevator doors opened.
Arthur stepped inside and held them for me.
Ethan leaned close to my ear.
“If you take those documents upstairs, you will destroy everything your father built.”
I met his eyes. “Then tell me what you’re hiding.”
For one second, he looked almost ready to confess.
Vanessa touched his shoulder.
That tiny gesture changed his mind.
“Fine,” he said. “Learn the hard way.”
I entered the elevator with Arthur.
As the doors began closing, a man in a catering uniform rushed forward and wedged his hand between them.
He slipped inside.
The doors closed.
May you like
The elevator started rising.
Then the man looked directly at me and whispered, “Your father sent me.”
