Chapter 16 - The Empty Desk
By noon, Corbin had packed his personal belongings into a single cardboard box. There were no emotional farewells from the board members, no tearful corporate send-offs. Just the quiet click of his office door closing behind him for the very last time.
He walked down to the ground floor lobby, carrying the box in his arms.
As he pushed through the revolving glass doors into the bustling city air, a small, familiar voice called out from the plaza fountain.
"Carrying a lot of weight for a man who just gave away an empire."
Corbin stopped.
Lianna was standing by the edge of the granite fountain, holding little Austin by the hand. She wore a simple blue jacket, her hair catching the autumn breeze, and a soft, enigmatic smile played on her lips.
Corbin walked over, setting his box down on the stone ledge. "I thought you'd be upstairs in the director's suite, redesigning the corporate layout."
"I was," Lianna replied quietly, stepping closer. "Then I found a copy of the estate transfer deed on my desk. You gave me your home, Corbin. Why?"
"Because it never belonged to a Stanford," Corbin said simply, looking down at the ground. "It belonged to the people who built it honestly. And... I didn't want to live in a mausoleum anymore."
Lianna reached out, her fingers brushing lightly against his arm. "Julian’s journal... I read the final pages this morning. Thank you for making sure the truth finally came out."
May you like
"Thank you for keeping your dignity intact while I was too blind to see what was happening right in front of me," Corbin replied, his voice softening.
Austin let out a happy giggle, toddling forward and grabbing onto the corner of Corbin’s cardboard box, completely unfazed by the millions of dollars shifting around them.
