Vanessa clapped lightly. “Wow. That was almost dramatic.”
Emily didn’t respond. She stood, picked up her bag—
And then a chair moved behind them.
Everyone turned.
The man in the charcoal suit stood up.
Calm. Imposing. Controlled.
The lawyer recognized him first.
“Mr… Reed?”
Vanessa frowned.
Ethan blinked. “Who are you?”
The man walked forward, step by step, until he stood behind Emily. He placed a hand gently on her shoulder.
“Are you finished, sweetheart?”
The word hit like thunder.
Ethan froze.
Vanessa dropped her phone.
Emily nodded. “Yes, Dad.”
Silence swallowed the room.
The name clicked.
Alexander Reed.
Owner of the building. Head of Reed Financial. A man who could make or break companies.
Ethan’s face went pale.
“Wait… what?”
Alexander picked up the signed papers, flipping through them calmly before looking at Ethan.
“So you’re the man who thought my daughter was nothing.”
Ethan tried to recover.
“With all respect, this is a private matter.”
Alexander studied him, then smiled faintly.
“It stopped being private when you humiliated her.”
Vanessa tried to speak.
“We didn’t know—”
“Exactly,” Alexander said, glancing at her. “You didn’t.”
Ethan swallowed.
“If this is about money, we can renegotiate—”
Alexander let out a quiet laugh.
“Money?”
He pulled out his phone.
“Cancel all meetings with his company,” he said. “Immediately. And pull our financial support.”
Ethan stood up.
“You can’t do that!”
“Can’t I?”
“My company is about to go public!”
“I know,” Alexander said calmly. “And I also know most of your investors are tied to my network.”
Silence.
The realization hit.
Everything Ethan had built was collapsing.
“You’d destroy my company over this?”
Alexander looked at him.
“No. You did that yourself.”
He set the papers down.
“I’m just removing support you never deserved.”
Vanessa’s voice shook. “Ethan… what does that mean?”
He didn’t answer.
Because he knew.
No investors.
