Chapter 8 - The Aftermath
“Julian Hayes! You better give us an explanation!”
Several veteran shareholders immediately stood up, pointing at Julian on stage, their fury uncontainable. These were the uncles who had watched me grow up, and the people most deeply deceived by Julian’s lies.
“That German order, you told us the profit margin was only five percent, and the rest was given back to the client. It turns out it all flowed into your pocket!” A German businessman stormed to the front of the stage, angrily interrogating him in broken English.
Seeing this, Julian’s parents went crazy and rushed onto the stage—not to comfort their son, but to point at my nose and curse me out.
“Olivia Vance, you vicious bitch! You won't die a peaceful death! You destroyed our son!”
I coldly looked at the two "executioners" who had treated me like an ATM, squeezing dry my blood and sweat for ten years.
“Your parenting is what destroyed him,” I put the microphone down. My voice wasn't loud, but it carried the weight of a thousand pounds. “If you hadn't taught him to be an opportunistic grifter since childhood, taught him to cling to wealth and power, he wouldn't have ended up where he is today.”
Right at this moment, Carter Brooks stepped onto the stage, standing firmly beside me. He held another microphone, facing all the guests, his voice clear and ringing.
“I, Carter Brooks, use my personal honor to guarantee that everything Ms. Olivia Vance said today is the truth. I will fully support her, using all legal means to recover the embezzled corporate assets!”
Carter's statement became the final straw that crushed Julian. He was completely isolated, with no one to help him.
The partners who used to kiss up to him surrounded him, angrily demanding he return their embezzled money. Chloe, having been pushed to the ground by him, cried that she was a victim too. His parents were still cursing uselessly, but their voices were drowned out by the roaring condemnation.
A meticulously planned wedding had turned into the most absurd farce.
I didn't cast another glance at the chaotic scene. Escorted by Carter Brooks, I turned and walked down the stage step by step, cutting through the crowd, leaving the place that once brought me immense humiliation, but had now witnessed my rebirth.
My silhouette in everyone's eyes was perfectly straight, infinitely strong. The noise behind me was nothing more than an elegy for yesterday.
The day after the storm hit, the news of Julian Hayes embezzling massive corporate funds and his chaotic private life swept the front pages of every media outlet like a virus. The company's stock price plummeted, temporarily thrown into turbulence.
I didn't give myself any time to breathe. Backed by Arthur Sterling and Carter Brooks, I quickly convened an emergency board of directors meeting.
The atmosphere in the boardroom was heavy.
Wearing a sleek black business suit, I stood at the head of the table, my eyes calm and sharp. I produced the unlimited power of attorney Julian had coaxed me into signing years ago and, in front of all the shareholders, declared it immediately void.
“From today onward, I will officially take over the company, and through legal channels, recover all the assets Julian illegally transferred.”
I spoke fluently, my train of thought clear, my understanding of the company's operations surpassing even many of the veterans present. The shareholders who had once viewed me merely as a trophy wife all showed newfound respect on their faces.
With the strong backing of Carter, Arthur, and a group of old loyalists, the board unanimously passed a resolution dismissing Julian from all his positions in the company and electing me as the acting CEO.
I had officially taken back everything that belonged to me.
Julian’s calls came in rapidly; I blocked every single method of contact he had. He probably thought that relying on our ridiculous ten years of marriage, he could still beg for my forgiveness.
Chloe also came looking for me a few times, blocking me outside my apartment, crying that she was a victim too, emotionally manipulated by Julian. I just had security escort her out. I wasn't running a charity, nor did I have any interest in hearing an accomplice's confession.
In the days that followed, I began sweeping reforms. I fired all the cronies Julian had planted in the company, reorganized the financial and operational workflows, and renegotiated contracts with the defrauded partners. Under my leadership, though the company experienced severe growing pains, it quickly stabilized and became even healthier than before.
I stood in the office that once belonged to my father, looking through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows at the familiar New York skyline below. The sunlight fell on me, warm and comforting. An unprecedented sense of security surged from the bottom of my heart.
This was my true battlefield. I, Olivia Vance, had returned.
Julian’s end came faster than I expected.
His personal assets were completely frozen by the court to pay off the massive debts he had incurred. The partners who used to call him a brother cut all ties, even launching a class-action lawsuit against him.
After squeezing out the last bit of value from him, Chloe took whatever remaining assets he had left and vanished without a trace. His parents came to the company to make a scene a few times, calling me an ungrateful wretch, but were eventually "invited" out by security.
Driven into a corner, Julian finally let go of his pathetic pride.
One rainy night, he appeared below my apartment building. He didn't carry an umbrella, letting the freezing rain soak him completely, looking wretched beyond belief. He knelt on the ground, looking up at my window, repenting over and over, screaming my name, begging me to remember our ten years as husband and wife and leave him a way out.
I stood behind the curtains, looking down at the man who resembled a stray dog.
In my mind flashed the contemptuous and disdainful look in his eyes at our tenth anniversary.
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My heart didn't ripple in the slightest.
There are some mistakes that, once made, offer no road back. You earn your own dignity. I will never pay the price for your life again.
