"If you're here to discuss corporate restructuring, Genevieve, the board meeting concluded hours ago," I said, my voice steady. "If you're here to reminisce about Patricia's failures, you've come to the wrong address."

Genevieve turned her sharp gaze toward me, a thin, patronizing smile touching her lips. "Patricia was a visionary who let sentimentality cloud her judgment. She thought keeping enemies close was enough. I don't believe in keeping enemies at all. I believe in eliminating them before they realize they're in a war."

Daniel closed the front door with a deliberate, echoing thud that made the glass panels rattle slightly. He stepped between Genevieve and myself, towering over her with an intimidating stillness.

"You have twenty-four hours to liquidate your holdings in Meridian and clear out of Ashport, Genevieve," Daniel stated quietly. "If you cross city limits again, I won't bother filing restraining orders. I'll simply let Marcus show you how we handle corporate trespassers in private."

Genevieve’s smile faltered for just a fraction of a second, revealing the cold panic underneath her polished exterior. She realized quickly that she was standing in a house belonging to a man who had survived a dynasty built on blood and boardrooms.

"You think you've won because Patricia is broken," Genevieve whispered, her voice dropping into a venomous hiss. "But the empire she built has roots that run deeper than you can possibly imagine. This isn't over, Daniel. Not by a long shot."

With that, she turned on her heel, pushed open the front door, and disappeared into the cool spring night, leaving behind a silence thick with impending conflict.