Chapter 6 - The Cornered Beast
"You can't do this to me!" Arthur screamed as the military panel began standing up to collect their documents. Security guards immediately stepped forward, positioning themselves between Arthur and the dais.
"Sir, you need to step back," a beefy military police officer warned, putting a heavy hand on Arthur’s chest.
"Get your hands off me! Do you know who I am?!" Arthur raged, his face turning purple with anger. "Kathryn! Look at me! You owe your life to me! I built the foundation you stand on! Without my blood in your veins, you are nothing!"
Kate stopped walking toward the side exit. She paused, folded her arms behind her back, and slowly turned around to face the man who had abandoned her twenty-six years ago.
"You gave me life, Arthur," Kate said, her voice echoing through the clearing room. "But you didn't build me. The United States Army built me. The soldiers I served with built me. The principles of honor, duty, and sacrifice built me. Things you have never understood and never will."
"You ruined us today!" Evelyn shrieked from the back of the room, charging forward in her high heels. "Do you have any idea what this rejection will do to our stock prices tomorrow morning?! The company will lose billions! We will be ruined!"
"If your company collapses because it relied on deceit and broken code," Kate replied, "then it deserves to fall."
"I disowned you!" Arthur spat, his eyes bulging with fury. "I wiped your name out of my will! I gave everything—my estate, my fortune, my legacy—to Trevor! And you'll always just be a ungrateful brat who abandoned her family!"
Kate looked at Trevor, who was trembling, terrified, holding a stack of useless folders. Then she looked back at Arthur.
"You didn't disown me, Arthur," Kate said with absolute clarity. "I disowned you the day I realized your wealth was just a golden cage built on arrogance. You gave Trevor your money. But you gave him none of your strength, none of your competence, and none of your character. Look at him. He is your real legacy."
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Trevor flinched as if he had been slapped. Arthur looked at his stepson, then back at Kate, his jaw trembling as the truth of her words sank deep into his chest.
"Escort Mr. Mercer and his party off the premises," Kate commanded the Military Police. "Immediately."