CHAPTER 6 – Walter's Final Trap
Richard stepped into the boardroom with the confidence of a man who believed he had already won.
The executives instinctively backed away.
No one had seen him in more than twenty years.
No one had expected a dead man to walk through those doors.
Richard smiled at Ethan.
"You look just like Walter when he was your age."
Ethan refused to move.
"You faked your death."
Richard chuckled.
"I didn't fake it."
"I simply let the world believe what it wanted."
He slowly walked around the table, admiring the portraits of Aurelius' founders hanging on the wall.
"Your grandfather spent twenty years hiding from me."
"But hiding never changes destiny."
Richard snapped his fingers.
Within seconds, armed security officers entered the room.
To Ethan's horror...
Half of Aurelius' executive board stood up and walked to Richard's side.
They had been working for him all along.
Eleanor whispered, "We've been betrayed..."
Richard laughed.
"You really thought I waited twenty years without building my own army?"
He placed a thick folder on the table.
"These are signed agreements."
"By sunrise tomorrow, Aurelius belongs to me."
The room fell silent.
Richard looked directly into Ethan's eyes.
"You have one choice."
"Sign the company over voluntarily..."
"...or watch every employee lose their job."
Several executives began crying.
Others begged Ethan to surrender.
"You can't beat him."
"It's over."
Ethan slowly lowered his head.
For several long seconds...
He said nothing.
Then...
He smiled.
Richard's expression changed instantly.
"You think this is funny?"
Ethan reached into his jacket and pulled out a small silver flash drive.
"I've been waiting for this moment too."
Richard frowned.
"What is that?"
Ethan calmly handed the drive to Eleanor.
She plugged it into the conference room computer.
The giant screen lit up.
Walter appeared.
It was a video recorded only weeks before his death.
"My dear family..."
"If Richard is watching this..."
"...then my final plan has worked."
Richard's smile disappeared.
Walter continued.
"I knew you would return after I died."
"I also knew greed would blind you."
"So every document you just forced everyone to sign..."
"...is completely worthless."
Richard shouted, "Impossible!"
Walter smiled into the camera.
"Because five years ago..."
"I secretly transferred every controlling share into a trust."
"The trust has only one beneficiary."
"Ethan."
"And there is only one condition."
"If anyone attempts a hostile takeover..."
"The trust automatically donates every single company share to an international humanitarian foundation."
The room exploded into chaos.
Richard's face turned pale.
"If I take Aurelius..."
"...I get nothing?"
Walter nodded on the screen.
"Exactly."
"You can destroy my empire..."
"But you'll never own it."
Richard slammed his fist onto the table.
"You old fool!"
Suddenly, every elevator in the building opened at once.
Federal agents flooded the floor.
"Richard Hale!"
"You're under arrest for fraud, conspiracy, identity fraud, international money laundering, and attempted corporate theft!"
Richard spun toward the emergency exit—
—but stopped cold.
Standing in the doorway was Eleanor.
She calmly raised a small envelope.
"I almost forgot."
"Walter left you one final gift."
Richard snatched the envelope open.
Inside was only a single handwritten sentence.
"You lost the day you chose money over family."
For the first time in twenty years...
Richard's hands began to shake.
But before the agents could reach him...
A deafening explosion rocked the entire building.
The lights went out.
Smoke filled the hallway.
Someone had planted bombs inside Aurelius Tower.
As alarms screamed throughout the skyscraper, Ethan looked through the shattered windows.
Across the street...
A black helicopter was already lifting into the sky.
Inside the cabin...
Richard sat smiling.
He had escaped.
And as the helicopter disappeared into the storm, Ethan noticed something terrifying.
Richard wasn't running away.
He was heading toward The Walter Home.
May you like
The place where hundreds of helpless elderly residents—including the people Ethan had sworn to protect—were now in unimaginable danger.
To Be Continued...
