Now — security will escort this woman out. The papers are signed, Preston. The transfer is complete. It’s done.”

Marcus, regaining a burst of confidence, lunged for the signed contract, meaning to seal it in his briefcase and finalize the coup.

“Don’t touch that,” I said, my voice cutting across the room like a whip.

I stepped forward, and the sheer force of my fury made even the hardened executives shrink back. I looked at Preston, my eyes burning with tears I refused to shed in front of these men.

“Are you going to let him do this, Preston? Are you going to let him erase your daughter twice? Let her die for a pile of stock options?”

Preston stood paralyzed, staring at the contract. The empire he’d spent a decade building, the billions in assets, his whole identity as a titan of industry — all of it bound in those pages.