Chapter 5 - The Collapse of an Empire

Victor stared at the marriage certificate as if it were a deadly viper. His face turned an unhealthy shade of crimson, his hands trembling violently as he reached for the document.

"This is fake... this is a conspiracy!" Victor screamed, his aristocratic facade completely shattering in front of the press. "Ethan, you organized this to overthrow me! I am your father!"

"You stopped being my father the day you left Caleb to die in secret," Ethan replied, his voice laced with cold, absolute finality.

Ethan turned to the board of directors. "As CEO, and representing my own thirty percent stake alongside my sister-in-law’s twenty-five percent stake, we hold fifty-five percent of the voting power in this company. I move for the immediate, permanent removal of Victor Callahan from the board, the termination of all his executive privileges, and the immediate surrender of his assets to cover the forty million dollars he stole from Caleb’s trust."

"Seconded!" Arthur Sterling, the head of the Sterling Group, shouted from the side of the room, looking at Victor with utter disgust. "We will not do business with a murderer and a thief."

"All in favor?" Ethan asked.

Every single hand in the room—except Victor’s—went up.

At that moment, the lead police detective stepped forward, pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his belt.

"Victor Callahan," the officer announced over the noise of flashing cameras. "You are under arrest for grand larceny, corporate fraud, and obstruction of justice in connection with the death of Caleb Callahan."

Victor looked around the room, searching for a single ally, a single face of sympathy. He found none. As the officers clicked the cold metal around his wrists and led him out past the shouting reporters, he looked at Ethan one last time.

"You destroyed this family, Ethan," Victor spat venomously.

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Ethan looked down at Lily, who was holding onto his neck, completely unbothered by the chaos around her.

"No, Victor," Ethan said softly. "You destroyed it. I’m just rebuilding it."