Chapter 2 - THE BOARDROOM BATTLE
The air in the 45th-floor boardroom was thick with corporate hostility. Julian Montgomery sat at the end of the long glass table, surrounded by three high-priced lawyers and the firm's head of HR, Victoria Sterling.
When Richard entered, Julian didn't stand. He merely spun a expensive pen between his fingers, his face a mask of patronizing concern.
"Richard," Julian began, his voice dripping with false warmth. "We have a billion-dollar merger with Tokyo on the line, and I hear you’ve locked yourself in your office with a... what is it? A homeless child? A runaway? Really, Richard, if you're having a mid-life crisis, there are more private ways to handle it."
Richard did not sit down. He stood at the head of the table, leaning forward slightly, his presence radiating an icy authority that made the lawyers shift uncomfortably.
"The child is Emma Parker," Richard said, his voice flat and dangerous. "She is the daughter of Daniel Parker."
The reaction was instantaneous. Julian’s hand froze mid-spin. The pen slipped from his fingers and clattered onto the glass table. For a fraction of a second, absolute panic flashed in Julian’s eyes before he recovered his smug smirk.
"Daniel Parker?" Julian chuckled dryly. "The thief who tried to ruin this company twenty years ago? Well, that explains the dramatic entrance. Like father, like daughter. I assume she's here looking for a handout. Security is already downstairs, Richard. We’ll have her escorted out, and we can get back to real business."
"She brought her mother's application for the Senior Financial Analyst position," Richard continued, ignoring Julian’s outburst. He slid Sarah Parker’s financial model across the glass table. "Read it."
Julian didn't touch the papers. Victoria Sterling, the HR Director, hesitantly pulled them toward her. As her eyes scanned the pages, her professional composure cracked.
"My god," Victoria whispered. "This... this is an incredibly sophisticated arbitrage model. It outlines a loophole in our European acquisition strategy that could have cost us eighty million dollars next quarter. Who wrote this?"
"Sarah Parker," Richard said. "Daniel's widow."
Julian stood up, slamming his hands on the table. "I don’t care if she solved world hunger! The woman is married to—well, was married to—a convicted fraudster. We cannot have that bloodline associated with Wilson & Montgomery! It’s a public relations nightmare, not to mention a massive security risk. I am vetoing this candidacy immediately."
"You can't veto a direct executive hire, Julian," Richard said softly. "Not when I own fifty-one percent of the voting shares."
"You wouldn't dare," Julian hissed, leaning across the table. "You would risk our entire relationship, our reputation, and the Tokyo merger for the ghost of a man who betrayed you?"
"Did he betray me, Julian?" Richard asked, his steel-blue eyes locking onto his partner's. "Or did someone else write the code that routed those offshore transfers? Because looking at Sarah’s analysis of our old accounts... she managed to trace the digital signatures. The ones we were told were deleted twenty years ago."
The room went dead silent. The lawyers looked at each other, sensing a legal minefield.
Julian’s face turned a pale, sickly shade of grey. "This is absurd. You’re losing your mind, Richard. If you hire this woman, I will take my clients, my capital, and I will tear this firm in half."
"Then start tearing," Richard replied. "Because as of five minutes ago, Sarah Parker is our new Senior Vice President of Financial Strategy. Her contract is being drafted by my personal legal team, not the company’s. Her healthcare benefits are active immediately. And her first assignment is a full forensic audit of our historical transactions from nineteen-ninety-six to the present."
Julian stared at Richard, his eyes burning with a venomous hatred. "You’ve made a grave mistake, Richard. You think you’re playing the hero. But you have no idea what you’ve just unleashed."
Julian turned on his heel and stormed out of the boardroom, his lawyers scrambling to follow him.
Richard stood alone in the massive room, his heart pounding. He had won the first battle, but Julian's reaction confirmed his worst fears. The threat sent to his phone wasn't an empty bluff. Daniel's death hadn't been an accident, and Sarah's sudden "pneumonia" was far too convenient.
He rushed back to his private office. When he pulled the bookshelf back, Emma was sitting quietly on the sofa, clutching her father's portfolio to her chest.
"Is it safe?" she whispered.
Richard knelt beside her. "Your mother has the job, Emma. Her doctors are being paid, and she is being moved to a private room at New York-Presbyterian right now under my personal security detail."
Emma’s face lit up with a pure, radiant joy that nearly broke Richard’s heart. "You found the boy in the photo, didn't you?"
"I did," Richard said, a tear slipping down his cheek. "And I promise you, I will never let anyone hurt your family again."
Just then, Richard’s personal security chief, Marcus, burst into the office, his face pale.
May you like
"Mr. Wilson, we have a problem," Marcus said, breathless. "The transport team just arrived at the public hospital to move Sarah Parker. Her room is empty. The nurse on duty says she was discharged thirty minutes ago... by order of a doctor who doesn't exist on the hospital staff."
Emma’s smile vanished. "Where's my mommy?"
