CHAPTER 3 — THE RECKONING
The room became completely silent.
The younger woman's hands started shaking.
"No..."
She looked up.
Terrified.
Confused.
Desperate.
The older woman finally spoke.
Her voice calm.
Controlled.
Dangerously calm.
"For thirty years, I signed every document."
A pause.
"For thirty years, I built everything you thought you inherited."
The younger woman stepped backward.
The papers nearly slipping from her hands.
"You can't do this."
The older woman slowly raised her hand.
Not to strike.
Not in anger.
But to point toward the office door.
The same door she had been ordered to leave moments earlier.
A quiet gesture.
Simple.
Final.
"No."
Her eyes never left the younger woman's.
"You leave."
The younger woman's world collapsed.
Employees outside the glass office walls had stopped working.
Watching.
Listening.
Witnessing everything.
Because power had just changed hands.
And for the first time since entering the room...
The older woman smiled.
Not with revenge.
Not with cruelty.
May you like
But with certainty.
The certainty of someone who had finally stopped surrendering what was always hers.
