CHAPTER 17 - Three days later.
Three days later.
The rain was gone.
But nothing felt clean.
Khloe stood alone in the Meridian boardroom, staring at the city skyline. Floor-to-ceiling glass. Same view she’d fought her entire life to earn.
And somehow—
It didn’t feel like hers anymore.
“They’re waiting,” Lena said quietly from the doorway.
Khloe didn’t turn. “They already know, don’t they?”
Lena hesitated. “About your mother? Yeah.”
Khloe let out a slow breath. “Forty-nine percent.”
“Controlling interest,” Lena added. “Hidden behind shell companies for over twenty years.”
Khloe finally turned. “And she never told me.”
“No,” Lena said. “She told Harrison.”
Harrison sat at the head of the table when Khloe walked in.
Board members lined both sides, tense, whispering. Lawyers. Advisors. People who shifted loyalty faster than markets.
Funny thing about power—
It never stays loyal to blood.
Harrison didn’t smile. “You’re late.”
Khloe pulled out a chair. “You’re sitting in my seat.”
“Not anymore.”
Silence spread across the room.
“You knew,” Khloe said, her voice steady. “This whole time.”
Harrison leaned forward, hands clasped. “Not the whole time.”
“But long enough.”
A beat.
“She trusted me,” he said.
Khloe let out a short, bitter laugh. “She raised me.”
“And she built an empire,” Harrison shot back. “One she didn’t think you could protect.”
That landed.
Hard.
The lead attorney cleared his throat. “Per the second Meridian agreement, controlling authority transfers upon activation of the contingency clause.”
Khloe’s eyes narrowed. “What clause?”
Harrison didn’t answer.
The attorney did.
“In the event of internal breach, criminal liability, or executive compromise…”
Khloe felt it before he finished.
“…control shifts to the secondary beneficiary.”
The room went very still.
Khloe’s voice dropped. “You triggered it.”
Harrison didn’t deny it.
“Thomas wasn’t the end of this,” he said quietly. “He was the breach.”
“You used him.”
“I contained him.”
“You burned everything down to take control.”
Harrison’s jaw tightened. “I saved it.”
Khloe stood.
“So what now?” she asked. “You push me out?”
“No,” Harrison said.
That caught her off guard.
“I don’t want you out,” he continued. “I want you exactly where you are.”
Khloe frowned. “Why?”
“Because you’re the only one who can fix what’s coming next.”
A ripple of unease moved through the room.
Khloe narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
Harrison slid a folder across the table.
“Meridian isn’t the asset,” he said.
Khloe opened it.
Her expression changed instantly.
Offshore accounts.
Black budgets.
Defense contracts.
Names she recognized—
And ones she definitely shouldn’t.
“This isn’t corporate,” she whispered.
“No,” Harrison said.
“It’s leverage.”
Khloe looked up slowly.
“Who else knows about this?”
Harrison met her gaze.
“They do.”
The lights flickered.
Then—
Blackout.
Emergency power kicked in a second later, dim and unstable.
Phones buzzed across the table.
Alerts. Incoming messages. Red flags.
Lena checked hers first.
Her face drained of color.
“Khloe…”
Khloe didn’t look away from Harrison. “Say it.”
Lena swallowed.
“It’s not just Meridian.”
A beat.
“It’s every company tied to it.”
Khloe’s stomach dropped.
“How bad?”
Lena’s voice shook.
“They’re all getting hit. Simultaneously.”
Harrison stood.
“Now you understand,” he said.
Khloe closed the folder slowly.
“This wasn’t about control,” she said.
“No,” Harrison replied.
May you like
Khloe looked up.
“It was about war.”
