The private elevator doors opened directly into the top floor of the Potter Group headquarters.
Angelo stepped out wearing a sharp, dark grey bespoke suit. He walked with a commanding stride, leading Elba, who was dressed in simple jeans and a sweater.
The entire floor of executives and secretaries froze. They stared at Elba in shock, but no one dared to breathe a word of question.
Angelo led her into his massive CEO office. He guided her to the plush leather sofa by the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. He pressed a button on his desk. "Bring in a tray of pastries. Now."
He walked over and patted Elba's head. "Stay here. Do not move."
Elba picked up a macaron from the tray the secretary rushed in.
Whatever, she thought, chewing slowly. Everywhere is a dead end anyway. Might as well eat good food while waiting for Dax Mencher to come collect our corpses.
Angelo's lips twitched in annoyance at her pessimism. He walked behind his massive mahogany desk and slammed his finger onto the intercom.
"All core executives. Conference room. Three minutes. Initiate protocol alpha," he barked.
Ten minutes later, the glass-walled conference room was suffocatingly tense. The massive screen showed the stock price of a core Potter tech subsidiary plummeting violently.
The Chief Financial Officer wiped sweat from his neck. "Boss, it's Dax Mencher's hedge fund. They leaked fabricated documents claiming our tech division is cooking the books. It's triggering a massive panic sell-off!"
The room erupted into chaos. Executives shouted over each other, begging Angelo to halt trading or inject the company's cash reserves to save the stock.
Out in the office, Elba sat on the sofa playing a game on her phone. She could hear the yelling through the slightly open conference room door.
Idiots, she sneered in her mind. Pumping money into that stock right now is throwing cash into a meat grinder! Dax doesn't give a shit about the tech company. His real target is the Potter Group's overseas rare earth mineral mines! This is just a smokescreen to drain our cash!
Sitting at the head of the conference table, Angelo heard the intelligence loud and clear.
He slammed his hand flat onto the table. The loud crack silenced the room instantly.
His eyes were lethal. "Abandon the tech subsidiary. Let it burn."
The executives gasped. The CFO looked like he was going to have a heart attack. "But sir-"
"Shut up and listen," Angelo commanded. "Transfer all available liquid capital to our offshore accounts. Lock down every single equity trading channel for our rare earth mineral assets. Total freeze."
He turned his piercing gaze to the Head of Acquisitions. "Find the shell company Dax Mencher is using to hide his main capital. Prepare a hostile reverse takeover."
The executives were terrified, but Angelo's absolute authority forced them into motion. Keyboards clattered frantically.
Thirty minutes later, the bloodbath on Wall Street reversed.
Dax Mencher's fund, having drained its resources shorting the tech stock, pivoted to buy the rare earth mineral shares at rock bottom-only to hit a reinforced concrete wall. The channels were locked.
Simultaneously, Potter Group capital slammed into Dax's exposed shell company, gutting it.
The conference room erupted into deafening applause. They had won.
Angelo let out a long breath. He looked through the glass door. Elba was still sitting on the sofa, watching a funny cat video, completely oblivious to the fact that she had just saved a billion-dollar empire.
Angelo walked out of the conference room and approached the sofa. He looked down at her. " Why do you think my trust fund activation is being delayed?"
Elba paused her video, looking up in confusion.
Why else? she thought instantly. Because Dax bribed the lawyer on the trust committee to stall your paperwork! What was his name... Kevin.
Angelo's eyes darkened. The final puzzle piece snapped into place.
He pulled out his phone and texted his legal team: Investigate Kevin on the trust committee. Pull his offshore bank records immediately.
He slipped the phone into his pocket. He looked down at Elba. A rush of intense, overwhelming gratitude hit his chest.
He leaned down, bracing his hands on the back of the sofa. He cupped her face with both hands and pressed a brief, firm kiss to her forehead. "That is the Potter family's gratitude," he stated, pulling back quickly before she could even process the gesture.
Elba's entire body went rigid. Her phone slipped from her fingers and hit the carpet.
Ahhhh! her inner voice shrieked like a siren. The tyrant brother just kissed me?! Did the stress of the corporate war finally break his brain?!
