"Did you forget about this, Duke?"
I let the silence stretch before continuing. "Back when we were starting out, you sweet-talked me into selling you my shares so you could 'build your dream.' But you seem to have forgotten what the contract clearly states: those funds were designated specifically for establishing a new company."
My gaze turned glacial.
"In other words, EmpireStar's entire initial capital came from me. I am the true owner of this company." I let each word land like a verdict. "So tell me—by what authority do you think you can transfer shares to your mistress?"
As the evidence piled up before him, Duke's face darkened like a sky before a storm.
Thirty years. He'd worked so hard to shed the label of a man who'd married up, convinced himself he'd built this billion-dollar empire on his own merit.
He'd forgotten one crucial detail: from the very first dollar to the last, it had always been mine. And buried in that contract was a single clause specifying the purpose of those funds—to establish EmpireStar Group.
I had Uncle Victor to thank for that clause—an old friend of my father's, he'd insisted on adding it.