Chapter 6 - The Real Mastermind

I stepped into the room and threw my arms around my father, burying my face in his shoulder as the overwhelming reality of it washed over me. He held me tightly, his hands trembling slightly against my back.

"You’re alive," I choked out, tears finally breaking free. "They told me you died. They said the plane..."

"Thorne needed the company unencumbered," my father said softly, pulling back to look at my face, his calloused thumb wiping away a tear. "He engineered the crash, drugged me at a board retreat, and had me transferred here before I even woke up. For fifteen years, I’ve been a ghost, watching my legacy get dismantled piece by piece."

"We're getting you out of here tonight, Thomas," Marcus said, keeping watch out in the hallway. "The transport van is waiting by the service exit."

"Getting me out won't be enough," my father replied, walking over to his small desk and picking up a heavy leather binder filled with meticulous handwritten notes and digital flash drives. "Thorne is calling a special emergency board meeting for Friday morning at nine sharp. He plans to execute the final hostile takeover of Sterling-Vance Enterprises using the forged share transfer from Emma."

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"We know," I said. "We have the forensic audits, the Cayman wire records, and Celeste’s personal diaries."

My father smiled—a grim, determined smile that I remembered from my childhood boardrooms. "Then we don't run. We go to the meeting."