Chapter 3 - The Freeze of the Empire
At 8:00 AM the next morning, the corporate headquarters of Blackwood Global in downtown Seattle was thrown into a state of absolute chaos.
Margaret Blackwood sat at the head of the massive glass boardroom table, flanked by twelve of the company’s senior board members. Adrian sat to her right, his hands shaking so violently he couldn't even hold his coffee cup. He had spent the entire night drinking, trying to drown out the memory of Ethan's terrifying glare from the memorial hall.
“We need to push the probate hearing forward immediately,” Margaret ordered, slamming her manicured hand onto the table, her voice laced with venomous desperation. “Claire’s shares must be integrated into the main trust before Ethan can file a formal injunction. If he gets control of her forty percent, he will have the voting majority to remove us from the board permanently!”
“I'm afraid that hearing has already been canceled, Aunt Margaret,” a voice boomed from the doorway.
The double doors of the boardroom swung open, and Ethan walked in. He wasn't wearing his funeral attire anymore. He wore a crisp, tailored charcoal suit, his presence radiating an absolute, suffocating aura of power. Behind him walked a team of six federal agents wearing distinct badges from the Securities and Exchange Commission, along with Victoria Hastings, the most ruthless corporate attorney in the country.
Margaret stood up, her face twisted in rage. “Ethan! This is a private corporate meeting! You cannot just march in here with federal agents! I am still the Chairperson of this board!”
“Not anymore, you're not,” Victoria Hastings said, stepping forward and tossing a stack of legally certified documents onto the glass table. “Mrs. Blackwood, as of 7:30 AM this morning, the federal court has issued an emergency asset freeze against you and your son Adrian on accounts of suspected corporate embezzlement, insider trading, and the illegal manipulation of shareholder portfolios.”
Adrian gasped, his laptop slipping from his hands. “What?! Embezzlement? That’s a lie! We haven't touched the corporate reserves!”
“Really?” Ethan said, walking up to the opposite end of the table, leaning his hands flat against the glass, staring directly into Adrian's terrified eyes. “Then explain why forty million dollars was transferred from Claire’s private trust fund into an offshore shell company in the Cayman Islands three days ago—the exact same day she was prescribed that 'special sedative' by your personal family doctor.”
The board members immediately erupted into panicked murmurs, several of them pulling their chairs away from Margaret and Adrian as if they were infected with a disease.
“This is a setup!” Margaret shrieked, her aristocratic mask completely cracking. “You’re using your influence to destroy us because you’re grieving! You have no proof!”
“The FBI is currently raiding Dr. Charles’s private clinic as we speak, Margaret,” Ethan said, his voice completely calm, yet carrying the weight of a death sentence. “He already signed a cooperation agreement ten minutes ago to save his own skin. He confessed to providing the Phenobarbital under your direct orders, and he admitted that the death certificate he signed was completely falsified.”
Adrian let out a pathetic whimpering sound, collapsing back into his chair, covering his face with his trembling hands. “Mother… I told you we shouldn't have done it. I told you Ethan would find out…”
“Shut up, Adrian!” Margaret roared, turning on her own son in a fit of wild rage.
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“Take them away,” Ethan ordered the federal agents.
As the handcuffs clicked loudly around Margaret and Adrian’s wrists in front of the entire board of directors, Ethan stood perfectly still, watching the proud matriarch and her arrogant son be dragged out of the building they had killed to protect.
