He was only furious that I had survived to trap him.

He sneered, his lip curling in disgust. “You think you’re so smart, Ellen? You think you’re strong because you found some hidden papers? You’re nothing. Everything you have, everything you are, came from me.”

I didn’t flinch. I leaned even closer, my voice dropping to a whisper that commanded the room.

“My intelligence came from my mother,” I replied. “My patience and resilience came from surviving twenty-six years with you. And the company, Dad? It was never actually yours.”

His brow furrowed in confusion.

“Mom didn’t just change the life insurance,” I explained, twisting the knife. “She owned fifty-one percent of Hale Development’s voting stock through her family’s legacy trust. A trust that, upon her death, immediately transferred sole authority to me. At nine o’clock this morning, while you were sitting in a holding cell, I convened an emergency board meeting. We voted unanimously. You’ve been formally removed as Chief Executive Officer. You are bankrupt, Dad.”