The door opened, and a woman in a sharp navy power suit walked in. Chloe Vance, the most feared corporate litigator in the state, holding a thick leather briefcase like a weapon.

“Mr. Vale,” she said, her voice like cracking ice. “I’m legal counsel for the Vale Family Trust. You are hereby served with a temporary restraining order and a notice of emergency suspension from all duties at Apex Development.”

Ethan laughed, a jagged, desperate sound. “You can’t suspend me! I own the company!”

“Actually,” Chloe said, pulling a stack of documents from her bag, “you own forty-nine percent of the non-voting shares. Your wife, through the trust, holds the fifty-one percent majority.

And under the morality-and-criminal-misconduct clause of the operating agreement—which, I might add, you signed in 2021—any officer indicted for a felony against a fellow shareholder is subject to immediate removal.”

“Indicted?” Ethan sneered. “You have no proof of a felony. It’s her word against mine.”