Chapter 14 - The Setup at Grant Holdings
The weekend passed in a blur of intense preparation. Inside my reclaimed sanctuary, the house felt lighter, as if a toxic cloud had been sucked through the ventilation system and expelled into the atmosphere. I spent the days resting, feeling the baby kick, and finalizing the trap.
On Monday morning, the final confrontation was set.
We gathered in the primary conference room of Grant Holdings, the corporate headquarters for my family’s trust. The room was intimidating by design: floor-to-ceiling glass walls overlooking the city, an enormous obsidian table, and plush leather chairs that swallowed you whole.
Naomi Chen sat to my left, organizing three sleek tablets. Elias stood by the glass door, his arms crossed over his broad chest, projecting an aura of absolute, immovable security.
"Are you sure you want to be in the room, Lena?" Naomi asked gently, glancing at my stomach. "I can handle them without you. You don't need the stress."
"I'm not stressed, Naomi," I replied, taking a sip of ice water. "I have spent months shrinking myself so Derek could feel tall. I want him to look me in the eye when his world collapses."
Elias tapped his earpiece. "They just arrived in the lobby. They brought a lawyer."
I smiled. "Of course they did. Let them in."
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The heavy glass doors slid open. Derek and Vivian marched in, radiating a desperate, fragile arrogance. Behind them trailed a sweating, nervous-looking attorney in a cheap suit, clearly hired in a rush using the funds from the joint credit card I hadn't frozen just yet.
They took their seats across from me. The war had officially moved to the boardroom.
