The officer didn't wait for a third warning. He scrambled back into his patrol car, his partner already throwing the vehicle into reverse. As they sped away from the curb, the officer frantically grabbed his phone and dialed a number, his voice shaking.

"I'm sorry! I can't help you! There are people out here way too powerful for me to push around. I don't know what you did this time, but you've really fucked up. You're on your own!" shouted the officer into the phone before hanging up.

Ethan watched the cruiser disappear and then turned his gaze toward Sterling. The Auditor gave a stiff, respectful nod.

"The building is secure, Mr. Blake. I've frozen the local servers and locked the executive elevator. They are all trapped in the boardroom waiting for a miracle that isn't coming," said Sterling.

"Good work. Did they try to shred anything?" asked Ethan.

"They tried. My team stopped the shredders five minutes after we breached. Everything you need to bury them is waiting on the table," said Sterling.

Ethan straightened his jacket and looked up at the glowing logo of Future Technologies at the top of the tower. "It's time. Falcon, stay here and make sure the perimeter holds. Sterling, come with me. I want you to witness the official end of the Halbert era," said Ethan.

The lobby was a fortress of glass and cold marble, but as Ethan stepped inside, the atmosphere shifted from corporate prestige to pure panic. Four high-level security guards immediately moved to intercept them, their hands resting on their belts.

"This is an outrage! You can't just swarm a private facility with armed men! We're calling the police right now!" shouted the lead guard.

Ethan didn't even slow down. He let out a sharp, mocking chuckle that echoed through the high-ceilinged atrium.

"Go ahead. Call them again. Your friends in the patrol car were just 'relieved' of their duties. You aren't being raided by criminals; you're being audited by your new owner and the federal government," said Ethan.

He stopped directly in front of the lead guard, his shadow stretching across the polished floor.

"I am Ethan Blake, the majority shareholder and new owner of Future Technologies. And this is Mr. Sterling, a Federal Auditor. If you touch your radios, it won't be a trespassing charge you'll be facing—it'll be federal obstruction of justice," said Ethan.

Sterling flashed his badge, the gold glinting under the LED lights. The guards visibly recoiled, their bravado evaporating instantly. They looked from the badge to Ethan, recognizing the name Blake—the name that used to be on every wall of this building. They began to tremble, their postures slumping into submissive apologies.

"Mr. Blake! We... we didn't know! Please, excuse us. We were just following orders from the board," said the guard, frantically hitting the button to call the executive elevator.

"Save your breath. You're lucky I'm in a hurry," said Ethan.

As the elevator doors slid open, Ethan walked in with a sense of familiarity that unsettled the staff. He didn't need a guide. Inside his mind, Crul was projecting a high-definition 3D map of the entire skyscraper directly onto his retinas. He could see through the walls, tracking the heat signatures of everyone in the building.

[Master, I have highlighted the targets. There are twelve board members currently in the penthouse. Seven are Halbert loyalists. The other five... they are the ones you seek. They have fought Vincent's every move for years, protecting your father's original patents at the cost of their own careers] said Crul.

A list of names scrolled through his vision. These were the "thorns" in Vincent's side—men and women who had been demoted, sidelined, and threatened, yet refused to bow. Ethan felt a rare surge of genuine respect.

"I'm looking forward to meeting them. It takes a special kind of backbone to stay loyal in a den of snakes," said Ethan.

"Are you talking to me, Mr. Blake?" asked Sterling.

"Just thinking out loud, Sterling. Get your pens ready. We're about to perform a very painful surgery on this company's leadership," said Ethan.

The elevator climbed rapidly toward the top floor. Ethan watched the floor numbers tick up, his heart steady but his resolve hardening into a blade. He wasn't just coming for his throne; he was coming to liberate the friends his father had left behind.

The heavy double doors of the boardroom swung open with a definitive bang. The atmosphere inside, which had been thick with frantic whispers and the rustle of panicked paperwork, turned to ice. Every head snapped toward the entrance.

The shareholders and board members scattered around the glass-walled penthouse looked like a collection of startled ghosts. Some looked as though they wanted to crawl under the table in fear, while a small group near the windows—the ones Crul had identified as loyalists—simply watched with wide, relieved eyes.

Ethan walked into the room, his presence carrying a weight that seemed to make the very floorboards groan. He didn't look like a man seeking a meeting; he looked like a god returning to a temple that had been desecrated in his absence.

He didn't stop until he reached the head of the long mahogany table. Sitting in the high-backed leather chair—the chair that had once belonged to his father—was Daniel Wright, Vincent Halbert's right-hand man and the current acting CEO.

Ethan didn't say a word. He simply stood beside the chair, his hand resting lightly on the polished wood. Wright looked up, his face pale and slick with sweat, but he didn't move. He clutched the armrests of the chair, his knuckles white, staring at Ethan with a mixture of defiance and sheer terror.

"You're in my seat, Daniel," said Ethan.

"This is a private session, Blake! You have no right to be here. Security! Where is security?" said Wright.

Ethan didn't call for his men. He didn't even raise his voice. He simply leaned down, his face inches from Wright's, his eyes burning with a cold, lethal intensity. He was baiting him, waiting for the man to be stupid enough to make a move.

"Security is currently busy learning a new set of rules. As for my right to be here... I own fifty-one percent of the air you're breathing right now. So, are you going to get up, or do I have to treat you like the garbage my father should have thrown out years ago?" said Ethan.

Wright's lip trembled. He looked around the room for support, but even the other Halbert loyalists were looking at the floor, unwilling to meet Ethan's gaze. He looked back at Ethan, his ego battling his survival instinct, his hand twitching as if he considered pushing Ethan away.

"You're a ghost, Ethan. You think you can just walk in here and—" said Wright.

"I'm not a ghost, Daniel. I'm the reckoning. And if you don't move in the next three seconds, I'm going to let the Federal Auditor behind me start with your personal bank accounts," said Ethan.

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