My father had been gone for less than a day when my husband stole sixty percent of his three-billion-dollar company and threw me out of the only home I'd ever known. Standing over me, he smiled and said, "Without your father, you're nobody." I didn't waste a second begging him to stay. Instead, I reached for the sealed envelope my father had left behind—and then I heard a voice that should have been impossible to hear again.

The executive floor of the Summit Enterprises skyscraper in downtown Manhattan smelled of rich leather, expensive cologne, and triumphant hubris.

Gavin Barrett sat at the head of the massive obsidian conference table, dressed in an eight-thousand-dollar custom Brioni suit. Beside him sat his mother, Celina, preening in a black silk ensemble, sipping champagne from a crystal flute while twenty senior board members, attorneys, and news reporters filled the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the press and the board," Gavin announced smoothly, resting his hands on the polished table as cameras flashed around him. "We meet today under heavy hearts following the tragic passing of my beloved father-in-law, Ross Albright. But as the newly appointed majority shareholder and CEO, I assure you that Summit Enterprises will enter a bold new era of expansion—"

BANG.

The heavy double mahogany doors of the boardroom swung open so violently they slammed against the marble walls.

The room fell into dead silence. Every camera lens spun toward the entrance.

I stepped through the doorway.

I wore a tailored, ice-white suit that contrasted sharply with the deep crimson lipstick painted across my lips. My dark hair was pulled back into a sleek, severe high ponytail, exposing the tiny, neatly dressed bandage above my right eyebrow. Behind me walked Jonathan Vance—the most feared corporate litigation attorney in North America—flanked by six private security officers dressed in charcoal suits.

Gavin’s champagne glass froze halfway to his mouth. Celina gasped, spilling wine onto her white silk lapel.

"Clara?" Gavin stammered, his face turning an unsightly ash-grey. "What... what are you doing here? Security! I ordered security to keep this woman out of the building!"

"Your security guards no longer work for you, Gavin," I said, my voice echoing through the silent room like a thunderclap as I walked down the center aisle, the sharp click of my red louboutin heels cutting through the quiet. "In fact, nobody in this building works for you."

"She’s unstable!" Celina shrieked, standing up frantically. "She’s grieving her father and losing her mind! Escort her out!"

"Sit down, Celina," I snapped coldly, not even glancing at her as I stopped at the foot of the table directly across from Gavin.

Jonathan Vance stepped forward, opening a thick leather briefcase and slapping a stack of federal injunctions onto the table in front of the board members.

"For the record," Vance declared in a voice of pure legal authority, "the documents Mr. Gavin Barrett presented to this board yesterday regarding the transfer of sixty percent of Summit Enterprises shares are fraudulent, void, and constitute federal felony grand larceny."

"That's a lie!" Gavin yelled, standing up so fast his leather chair rolled back into the glass wall. "Clara signed those documents herself! I have her signature verified by a notary!"

"A signature obtained under drugging and fraudulent coercion, Gavin," I replied coolly. "But more importantly... those shares don't exist."

Gavin frowned, his eyes darting around the room as the board members began whispering frantically among themselves. "What are you talking about?!"

I tapped the screen of my tablet, projecting a high-definition corporate organizational chart onto the giant glass display behind Gavin's head.

"Seventy-two hours ago, Summit Enterprises USA was stripped of all operational assets, intellectual property, and international capital," I revealed, stepping closer to him. "Those assets were legally merged into The Vanguard Covenant, an international trust of which I am the sole, absolute owner. The entity you currently claim to own, Gavin, is nothing more than a hollow shell holding four hundred million dollars in predatory loans from offshore lenders."

Gavin’s breath hitched. He grabbed the edge of the conference table, his knuckles turning ghostly white. "No... no! You're bluffing! Ross didn't have the legal authority to do that without board approval!"

"He didn't," a voice spoke from the private executive elevator behind the boardroom.