Chapter 4 - The Hostile Takeover
“You spent years telling me I was invisible,” Claire said softly, standing up from her chair. “You delegated my birthday gifts to your assistant. You delegated our anniversary dinners. You delegated the divorce.”
She walked slowly around the table, stopping just a few feet away from me. The woman I thought I had broken was radiating untouchable power.
“You thought bringing other women into your bed was the ultimate betrayal,” Claire continued, looking dead into my eyes. “But the real betrayal was assuming I was too weak to survive without you. You stopped looking at me, Daniel. So you never saw me studying your weaknesses.”
She slid a thick, bound legal document across the table toward me.
“What is this?” I whispered.
“Morgan Holdings is in breach of its massive corporate loans due to the sudden revenue drop,” Claire explained flawlessly. “The banks panicked this morning. So, I bought your debt. All of it.”
The air left my lungs.
“I am now your primary creditor, Daniel,” Claire said. “And I am calling in the loans. Effective immediately. You have forty-eight hours to liquidate your remaining assets, step down as CEO, and hand the shell of your company over to me, or I will force you into personal bankruptcy and take your penthouse, too.”
I stared at her, entirely paralyzed. The brilliant, arrogant titan I thought I was had been completely outplayed by the woman I had left at home.
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“Claire, please,” I choked out, the humiliation burning my throat. “I’ll do anything. Don't take the company. It’s all I have left.”
“You had me,” Claire whispered, turning her back on me. “But you delegated that, too.”
