Chapter 7: The King Returns
The boardroom doors swing wide and every head snaps toward me.
Twenty four people around that long obsidian table, and for one perfect second, nobody breathes.
I step inside like I own the place.
Because I do.
Ethan is halfway through some bullshit speech, arms raised like he's Moses parting the Red Sea. The color drains from his face so fast I almost feel bad for him.
Almost.
"Security!" he barks, voice cracking. "Who the hell let this man…"
He stops. Recognition slams into him like a freight train.
I close the doors behind me with a soft click that echoes like a gunshot.
"Hello, Ethan." My voice is calm, low, the way it used to be when I closed nine figure deals before breakfast. "Miss me?"
A ripple of whispers explodes around the table. Phones come out. Someone gasps. An older board member, Harold Langston, been here since my grandfather's days, actually crosses himself.
Ethan finds his voice first. "This… this is impossible. You're…"
"Dead?" I finish for him, walking slowly along the edge of the table. "In prison? Broke and forgotten?" I stop at the head, directly across from him. "Funny. I've been reading that story for five years. Thought I'd come write the ending myself."
I toss the encrypted drive onto the polished wood. It spins once and stops right in front of Harold.
"Everything you need is on there," I say. "Forged signatures. Offshore accounts. Emails between my dear brother and Vanessa Sinclair laying out exactly how they framed me for embezzlement. Even a cute little video of them celebrating the night before the 'evidence' went public."
Harold's hand shakes as he picks it up.
Ethan's already scrambling. "This is a forgery! A setup! He's been missing for years, he can't just…"
"Actually, I can." I pull out the chair at the head of the table, my father's chair, Ethan's for the last five years, and sit down. "Article 17 of the company charter. In the event of wrongful disinheritance or forced removal of a blood heir, that heir may reclaim controlling shares upon presentation of exonerating evidence. Ring any bells?"
Dead silence.
I lean back, letting my gaze sweep the room. Some faces are pale with shock. Others already calculating which way the wind's blowing. Smart ones are looking at me like I'm the second coming.
Marcus steps in from the side door, perfect timing, flanked by two lawyers in five thousand dollar suits and four very large security men who definitely don't work for the building anymore.
"Proxy votes," Marcus announces, dropping a thick folder in the center. "Representing fifty eight percent of outstanding shares. All transferred back to Mr. Damian Lockwood as of 4:17 a.m. this morning."
Ethan lunges for the folder like he can make it disappear if he grabs it fast enough. One of the new security guys puts a gentle but very firm hand on his shoulder and sits him back down.
I stand again.
"Effective immediately," I say, voice carrying without effort, "Ethan Lockwood is removed from all positions within Lockwood Enterprises. Security will escort him out. His access is revoked. His accounts are frozen. And the authorities will be in touch shortly."
Ethan's mouth opens and closes like a fish. For the first time in his life, he has nothing to say.
The room erupts. Questions, shouts, applause from a couple of old timers who always hated his guts. Cameras are already flashing from the glass wall, someone tipped the press. Perfect.
I raise a hand and it goes quiet again.
"One more thing," I say. "As of this moment, I am resuming my role as Chairman and CEO."
I let that sink in.
Then I smile, sharp, cold, and one hundred percent real.
"Meeting adjourned."
Chaos follows me out into the hallway. Reporters swarm, microphones in my face, cameras blinding. Marcus handles the crowd while I move fast toward the private elevator.
My phone, the real one, buzzes nonstop. Lydia. Old allies. Investors begging for meetings.
I ignore them all.
There's only one call I care about right now.
I dial from memory.
It rings twice.
Then her voice, shaky, hoarse from crying or screaming or both.
"Damian?"
The sound of her saying my name after everything hits me like a punch to the chest.
"Bella." I stop in the middle of the executive corridor, leaning against the wall because my legs suddenly don't feel steady. "Baby, I'm okay. I'm more than okay."
"Where are you?" She's trying to sound strong, but I hear the crack underneath. "You left. You just… left."
"I know. I'm sorry. I had to finish something. One last piece." I close my eyes. "Turn on the news."
Silence on the line. Then the faint click of a remote, the low murmur of a TV.
I wait.
A gasp. "Damian… that's… that's you."
"Yeah." I exhale. "It's me."
Another beat.
"You're… you're him. The Lockwood heir. All this time…"
"I never lied about who I was inside," I say quietly. "Just about what I lost. And now I've got it back. All of it."
She's crying now. I can hear it.
"I thought you left me," she whispers. "I thought everything we said, everything we…"
"Never." My voice cracks for the first time today. "I told you I was coming back for you. I meant it."
A long silence.
Then: "Come get me. Please."
"I'm already on my way."
I hang up, shove the phone in my pocket, and stride toward the elevator.
Marcus falls in beside me. "Car's waiting downstairs. Press is a zoo."
"Let them look," I say.
The elevator doors slide open. I step inside alone.
As we drop forty eight floors, I watch the numbers tick down and feel something settle in my chest.
Five years of hiding.
Over.
The doors open to the lobby. Cameras flash like a thunderstorm.
I walk straight through them, head high, the way I used to.
Outside, the city is mine again.
And in twenty minutes, she will be too.
For good this time.