Part 28 –
Legacy isn't just inherited.
Sometimes, it's taken back with fire and fury.
Lila had played by the rules long enough.
Now, she was rewriting them.
The Invitation
Julian Drake was not a man who often showed himself in public especially not after the failed ambush that had landed Damien in federal custody and exposed the internal corruption he'd engineered.
But tonight, he made an exception.
A sleek, black envelope was hand-delivered to Lila at Wolfe Enterprises.
Dinner. 9 PM. The Whitmore Estate. Just you.
Let's finish this where it began.
The Whitmore Estate.
Her childhood home.
The place her mother had vanished from one rainy October night.
Ethan stared at the invitation like it was laced with poison.
"He wants to corner you," he said. "He's trying to shake you, trap you, maybe worse."
"I know," Lila said, quietly. "That's why I'm going."
Ethan took her hand. "Not alone."
She touched his chest, her eyes warm. "I need to face this on my own for my mother. For every part of me I left behind when I walked away from that house."
He didn't argue. He just held her tightly.
"If he so much as breathes wrong call me."
House of Echoes
Lila stepped into the Whitmore Estate, her heels clicking against polished marble floors that still echoed with childhood memories.
Everything was just as she remembered.
The grand chandelier. The tall windows. The smell of aged wood and distant roses.
Julian was waiting for her in the dining hall alone, of course. Smirking.
"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten your roots," he said, swirling a glass of dark red wine.
"My roots were strangled by people like you," she replied coolly. "Cut the small talk."
He chuckled and leaned back.
"You really don't know the full truth, do you? Your mother didn't just discover my father's crimes she helped him cover them up."
Lila blinked, hard.
"You're lying."
He slid a file across the table. "Proof. Letters. Receipts. She turned a blind eye to protect her daughter. But that makes her no different from me."
Lila opened the folder, her breath catching at the sight of her mother's handwriting.
It was true.
Her mother had been complicit… until it got too dangerous.
Until she tried to come clean.
Until they silenced her.
Julian leaned forward, his voice a soft knife.
"You're not the hero of this story, Lila. You're the daughter of a woman who helped bury the truth. That makes you poison to this company."
He smiled cruelly.
"But I'll offer you a deal. Step down. Walk away. I'll erase this file. No press. No scandal. You get your clean name. I get the company. Everyone wins."
Lila stared at the file.
Her hands shook once.
Then they stilled.
And she closed the folder.
"No," she said.
Julian's smirk faltered. "No?"
"You're right. My mother made mistakes. She was part of the problem until she chose to become the solution. She risked everything to stop your father. And now I'll risk everything to stop you."
She pulled out a flash drive and slid it across the table.
"This is being sent to the press as we speak. The full story. Not just about my mother about you. About Wolfe. About everything."
Julian's face turned pale.
"You're bluffing."
She leaned in, her voice like thunder behind a calm sea.
"I'm done bluffing."
The Boardroom Showdown
The next morning, Lila walked into the Wolfe boardroom with Ethan beside her, hand in hand.
The atmosphere was electric every seat filled, every member alert.
The scandal had broken.
And Lila had done the unthinkable.
She'd leaked the truth herself.
The media called it "the bravest self-sacrifice in corporate history."
But she didn't care about the headlines.
She cared about the board's verdict.
Chairman Roth stood.
"You released damaging information that implicates your own family," he said. "Why?"
Lila's voice was clear, unwavering.
"Because a legacy built on lies is no legacy at all. If I have to burn this empire to rebuild it, I will. But I won't lie. Not for you. Not for anyone."
There was silence.
Then—applause.
And Roth nodded slowly.
"Then we vote."
Minutes passed. Hands were raised.
And when the results came in, the board made it clear:
Julian Drake was permanently barred from any position of influence.
Lila Whitmore was named interim Co-CEO of Wolfe Enterprises.
**With Ethan Wolfe.