Chapter 2 - THE MIDNIGHT BROADCASTDaniel’s face didn’t panic. That was the most terrifying thing about him—the absolute, sociopathic control he maintained even when the floor dropped out from under his feet.
His eyes flicked from Nathan to the glowing screen, then back to me.
“A live stream,” Daniel murmured, a slow, predatory smirk curling the corner of his mouth. “How quaint. Do you really think a live stream bypasses a signed corporate acquisition contract, Nathan? Your father signed the primary assignment blocks at 2:00 PM today. All we need is Amelia’s signature to notarize the dissolution of the secondary trust. Without her signature, the company liquidates into bankruptcy court anyway. Within forty-eight hours, your family loses everything either way.”
Nathan stepped closer, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with me. “You underestimate how much dirt we’ve dug up on Blackwood Enterprises while you were busy playing the grieving, wronged husband downstairs, Daniel.”
“Oh?” Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Enlighten me.”
“Shell companies in the Caymans,” I spoke up, my voice steadying as the adrenaline burned through the terror in my veins. I walked past Daniel, placing the emergency transfer document face down on the vanity table. “You didn't just bail out my father’s company, Daniel. You intentionally inflated his supply chain costs through dummy corporations owned by Marissa’s fictitious consulting firm, manufacturing a fake financial crisis so you could steal the proprietary military drone components my father’s engineers designed.”
Daniel’s smirk faltered for a microsecond. Just a twitch of his jaw.
“Marissa isn't your assistant,” I continued, turning to face him fully, my wedding dress rustling in the quiet room. “She’s a corporate intelligence operative your mother hired six months ago specifically to infiltrate our lives, steal our design blueprints, and set up a rival shell company in Singapore.”
The door to the suite banged open wide.
Marissa stood in the doorway, her hand no longer resting on her flat stomach, but holding a heavy brass desk lamp like a club. Behind her stood Evelyn Blackwood, her diamond necklace flashing under the harsh hallway lights, her face twisted in absolute fury.
“You absolute fools,” Evelyn hissed, stepping into the room and pushing past Marissa. “Did you really think we spent three decades building the Blackwood empire by letting a couple of mid-tier engineers outsmart us? Daniel, stop playing games with them. Call security. Have them detained for trespassing and mental instability.”
“Security won’t come up, Evelyn,” a calm, deep voice echoed from the hallway.
Richard Blackwood—the patriarch, the man who had sat silently sipping bourbon while his son destroyed me—stepped out from the shadows of the private elevator vestibule. He wasn't holding a phone. He was holding a Federal Bureau of Investigation badge.
Daniel stared at his father. “Dad... what is this?”
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Richard looked at his son with profound, icy disappointment. “It’s checkmate, Daniel. I built this company before you were born. I watched you and Evelyn turn it into a viper’s nest of extortion and corporate theft. I spent the last eight months working with federal investigators to trap you both legally.”
Richard turned his gaze to me, his eyes softening with genuine sorrow. “I am so sorry, Amelia. You were just an innocent pawn in their sick game. But the game is over.”
