The boardroom was silent, save for the rhythmic ticking of the antique clock on the far wall—a gift from Claudia Cole herself, engraved with the words Legacy Above All.
Ava stared at that inscription like it was a curse.
Ethan sat beside her, jaw set, eyes unreadable. Across from them sat Claudia, poised in her signature pearl suit, every inch the queen of Cole Dynamics. Her expression didn't flicker as the journal pages sat open on the table, the damning words bleeding from the past into the present.
"So," Claudia said finally, voice smooth as ever. "We're airing ghosts now?"
Ava leaned forward, matching her calm with quiet fire. "Not ghosts. Just the truth you buried beneath your empire."
Claudia's lips twitched into something resembling a smile. "You think this... childish confession is enough to take me down? Your mother was bitter. Broken. A mistress, not a martyr."
Ethan flinched.
Ava didn't. "She may have been all of that. But what she wasn't—was a liar."
Claudia stood, her heels clicking like gunshots on the marble floor as she circled the room. "Your mother knew exactly what she was doing when she came after Richard Cole. Just as you knew what you were doing when you came back."
"I came back for closure," Ava said. "But now, I'm here for justice."
Claudia turned to Ethan. "And you? You're going to let her dismantle everything we built?"
Ethan stood too, slow and deliberate. "You mean what you built. On secrets, betrayal, and blackmail."
There was a flicker—just a moment—in Claudia's eyes. A warning. A crack.
"You're making a mistake," she said.
"No," Ethan said. "I made that mistake five years ago when I let her walk away without demanding the truth. I won't make it again."
Ava looked at him, something trembling at the edge of her composure. She had come here expecting war. What she hadn't prepared for was Ethan choosing her—publicly, powerfully.
But war wasn't over.
Claudia stepped closer, voice a razor. "You don't know everything, Ava. Not yet. You think that journal held the final word?" She leaned in. "There's one more name you haven't asked about."
A chill slid down Ava's spine. "What name?"
Claudia smiled—this time, cruel and victorious. "Yours."