Chapter 3 - The Price of Entitlement
The next morning, the headlines broke: Cross Holdings Under New Management. The scandal was astronomical. By noon, the mansion was surrounded by media vans.
Inside, the power dynamic had shifted entirely. Damian, once the undisputed CEO, found himself sitting at the end of the table, his access cards deactivated. Isabella sat at the head, surrounded by lawyers and the board of the Montrose Trust.
"You're stripping me of my autonomy," Damian spat, tossing a pile of folders onto the table. "You're treating me like a child."
"I am treating you like a liability," Isabella replied, not looking up from a financial ledger. "Your reckless decision to acquire Oden Corp was a gamble that lost the company four hundred million dollars. I’ve liquidated your personal accounts to stabilize the company stock."
Damian stood up, his chair clattering back. "You have no heart, Isabella. I married you because you were quiet, because you were steady. I didn't marry a corporate executioner."
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"You married a woman you never bothered to see," she countered, her voice ice-cold. "I wasn't quiet, Damian. I was waiting for you to grow up. You didn't. So, I had to grow into the role your grandfather intended for me."
As the day progressed, the pressure mounted. Vanessa was caught trying to smuggle internal documents out of the house, only to be stopped by the new security team Isabella had installed. The facade of the Cross family was crumbling, brick by brick.
