Eunice picked up the pen. She turned to page 14. Her eyes scanned the text. It was the exact document from the briefcase. If she signed this, her family was ruined, and she would be bound to a monster.
She lowered the pen to the paper. Daniel’s grip on her shoulders tightened slightly in anticipation. Eleanor leaned forward, her breath practically catching in her throat.
The pen touched the ink line.
Click.
Suddenly, the heavy double doors of the boardroom burst open with a resounding crash.
Everyone jumped. Daniel spun around. Eleanor gasped, her face turning instantly pale.
Standing in the doorway was a man in a sharp black suit, flanked by two uniformed police officers and a senior investigator from the Federal Trade Commission. But it wasn’t Eunice’s father.
It was Arthur Vance—the Chief Legal Counsel for Carter Holdings, and a man who had been secretly fired by Eunice’s father two weeks ago for alleged corporate espionage.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Eleanor thundered, stepping in front of the table. “This is a private corporate matter! Secure custody of the building!”
Arthur Vance stepped forward, ignoring Eleanor entirely. His eyes locked directly onto Eunice, a grim, triumphant smile on his face.
“It’s over, Eleanor,” Arthur said calmly. He then looked at Daniel, then back to Eunice. “Ms. Carter, I believe you have the recording?”
Daniel froze, his hands dropping from Eunice’s shoulders. He looked down at her, his eyes wide with a sudden, horrifying realization.
Eunice didn’t look afraid anymore. The shy, trembling girl from the hotel room was completely gone. Slowly, calmly, she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small, sleek digital audio recorder that had been running ever since she stepped into the hotel room the night before.
But that wasn’t the most shocking part.
Eunice looked at Arthur Vance, then turned her gaze to Daniel, her voice dropping to a dangerously low, confident register.
“Thank you for showing up on time, Arthur,” Eunice said smoothly. She didn’t look at the contract on the table. Instead, she looked directly into Daniel’s eyes. “You see, Daniel, you thought you were playing me. But you forgot one very important detail about my family.”
Daniel stammered, his confidence completely evaporating. “Eunice… what are you talking about? Who is he? What recording?”
Eunice leaned forward, resting her hands on the glass table, her eyes flashing with a ruthless fire.
“My father didn’t put my shares in a trust that triggers upon my marriage,” Eunice whispered, every word cutting through the room like a razor blade. “He put them in a trust that triggers the moment Rhodes Enterprises attempts a hostile takeover. I knew about your mother’s plan three months ago. The fragile, terrified virgin in the hotel room? The girl crying for her safety? She was exactly what you needed to see to make you sloppy. And now, you’ve just brought your mother, your notary, and your signed intent to defraud a federal trust right into a room with the FTC.”
Eleanor let out a choked scream. “Daniel! What did you do?!”
Daniel backed away, looking at Eunice as if she were a ghost. “You… you lied to me? Everything? Last night… everything was a lie?”
Eunice smiled, a cold, breathtakingly beautiful smile that promised absolute ruin. She picked up the gold pen, but instead of signing the contract, she flipped to the front page and drew a massive, jagged line right through the Rhodes family crest.
“Not everything was a lie, Daniel,” Eunice said softly, stepping closer to him until she could smell his sudden, terrified sweat. “I really did want to see what kind of man you were. And now that I know…”
She paused, as the police officers stepped forward, handcuffs clicking open in the silent room. Arthur Vance handed a new set of documents to the FTC investigator.
But just as the officers reached for Daniel’s arms, the main projector screen on the boardroom wall suddenly flashed to life, overriding the secure network. A live video feed began to broadcast, showing the interior of Eunice’s own family home.
On the screen, Eunice’s father was not in his study. He was tied to a chair, a blindfold over his eyes, with a masked figure standing behind him holding a silenced pistol to his temple.
A distorted voice boomed through the boardroom speakers, freezing everyone—including the police officers—in their tracks.
“A very clever play, Ms. Carter,” the electronic voice chuckled darkly from the speakers. “You trapped the Rhodes family beautifully. But you forgot that there is a third player at this table. You have exactly sixty seconds to sign Eleanor’s contract and hand over the Carter estate, or your father dies live on this feed. Choose wisely.”
Eunice’s breath caught in her throat. The gold pen slipped from her fingers, clattering against the glass table as the countdown timer appeared on the screen: 00:59… 00:58… 00:57”
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