I ignored the chaos. Walked into the storage room. Locked the door.
In the early days of my business trips, I had slept in leaking basements to save company money. A storage room was a luxury suite by comparison.
I thought Summer would be satisfied now that she had stripped me of my status and family affection.
I was wrong.
I messaged Mr. Gilbert, informing him that I was severing ties with the Simmons family and that our liaison protocols might change.
Moments later, my phone rang. Jonathan, my assistant.
"Ms. Simmons, you need to get here. Something's happened at the company—"
The line went dead.
Jonathan had been by my side for a decade. He never panicked.
Adrenaline surged through me, dulling the pain in my stomach. I grabbed my coat and sprinted for a taxi.
My CEO access card was dead.
"Ms. Simmons! You're finally here!"
Employees in the main lobby spotted me and immediately cleared a path to the service elevator. The tension in the air was thick enough to choke on.
The doors slid open on the top floor.
Chaos.
Half the core team was gone. Desks were being cleared. People carried boxes toward the exits with shell-shocked expressions, like refugees fleeing a war zone.