"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Don't forget, Stellaris belongs to the Mason family. My father built this company from the ground up. Who gave you the right to pull any of this?!"
He raised the microphone and addressed the crowd with an apologetic tone.
"We've had a small hiccup at today's launch event, so we'll be ending the livestream here."
"Please bear with us a little longer. We'll have a full explanation for everyone soon."
Without waiting for a response, he turned toward the front rows and called for the company's security team.
"You. All of you. Get her out of here."
"And from this day forward, she is not to set foot inside Stellaris again!"
One of the guards moved to grab me, but their captain stepped in and blocked him.
Elmer was shaking with rage. "I sign your paychecks. Are you really going to disobey a direct order?!"
What happened next caught everyone off guard.
The security captain simply bowed to him and spoke in a measured voice.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Mason. We don't have the authority to do that."
Elmer went rigid, as if he hadn't heard correctly.
His voice trembled, anger bleeding through every syllable.
"What... what did you just say?"
"I'm giving you a direct order to throw this woman out, and you're telling me you don't have the authority?"
The captain shook his head again.
His tone was steady. Not a flicker of hesitation.
"That's correct, Mr. Mason. We genuinely do not have that authority."
It wasn't just Elmer who was stunned. Everyone in the room was.
It was common knowledge that the Mason family stood behind Stellaris Technologies. Elmer was the eldest grandson, the sitting CEO. His word was law inside this building.
How could something like this even happen?
Elmer recovered quickly, turning on the security captain with bared teeth.
"Are you staging a mutiny?"
"Do you want me to fire you right now and make sure you never work in this industry again?"
Watching him bully a man just doing his job, puffing himself up like some petty tyrant, I couldn't hold back any longer.
"Enough. Throwing your weight around with a security guard makes you feel powerful?"
"Or do you just not understand plain English?"
Nobody expected me to push back that hard.
The old me had always kept her head down around the Masons, always dimmed her own light in Elmer's presence. Everyone assumed I was afraid of him, afraid of his family.
And now here I was, humiliating the Mason family's golden grandson in front of a packed room.
Whispers rippled through the crowd.
"Has Gwendolen lost her mind? Talking to Mr. Mason like that? Isn't she afraid the family will come after her?"
"With the kind of power the Masons have, crushing her would be nothing."
"She's probably going for broke. Figures she might as well squeeze them for everything she can while she's at it."
"Honestly, it's terrifying. The Masons gave her a hand up when she had nothing, and this is how she repays them."
Elmer seized the moment, riding the wave of public opinion to bury me.
He lifted the microphone, his voice heavy with practiced sorrow.
"You all see it now, don't you?"
"You saw how my family treated her."
"We gave her everything. Opened our hearts, broke protocol to bring her into the executive team, handed her opportunities most people would kill for."
"And what does she do? She turns around and bites the hand that fed her. Tries to steal the entire company."
I watched his award-worthy performance and couldn't help but laugh.
"Go ahead, play the victim. Just be careful you don't end up shooting yourself in the foot."
Elmer's expression darkened, contempt dripping from his gaze.
"So you've really thrown away every last shred of decency, haven't you?"
When I didn't flinch, he snapped.
"Fine. If security won't remove you, I'll call the police!"
He pulled out his phone, fingers jabbing at the screen.
I didn't rush. Didn't panic. Just let the words fall, cool and unhurried.
"Go ahead. Call them. I don't mind."
Elmer had no comeback. He stood there, phone in hand, trembling from head to toe.
