Chapter 16
The flight across the Atlantic was long and silent. The private jet they transferred to in Canada was luxurious, but the atmosphere remained tense. Michael sat in the plush leather seat, his tailored navy-blue suit discarded, watching Renee sleep peacefully in the adjacent cabin. The profound ache in his chest was a constant reminder of the six years he had lost, the milestones he had missed, all because of his parents' toxic obsession with family legacy.
He pulled out the handwritten confession from the Boston adoption agency director. He read the name Elena over and over again. She had been a brilliant, beautiful artist, and she had died believing he had abandoned her. The betrayal was so absolute, so profoundly evil, that it fueled a cold, calculating strategy for absolute destruction.
"Michael," David said quietly, stepping into the cabin. The lawyer looked exhausted, his gray suit rumpled. "I've been reviewing the corporate charters. Anthony is moving fast. He has convened an emergency board meeting for tomorrow morning. He plans to vote you out as CEO in absentia, citing mental instability and criminal endangerment."
"He needs a supermajority to remove me," Michael stated, his voice flat and emotionless.
"He has it," David sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Carmen has spent the last five years quietly buying loyalty among the board members. They are loyal to the matriarch's money. Once you are removed, Anthony will have total control of the DeLuca holding company."
"Let him have the holding company," Michael replied, a dark, humorless smile crossing his handsome face.
David frowned in confusion. "Michael, if he takes the holding company, he takes the empire."
"The empire is built on a foundation of leverage and debt," Michael corrected, his intense eyes locking onto the lawyer. "Anthony funded his failing offshore ventures by skimming from Elena's trust. He used DeLuca corporate assets as collateral. What happens to the DeLuca holding company if the two-billion-dollar trust is suddenly pulled from their ledgers?"
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David’s jaw dropped as the sheer, devastating magnitude of the plan hit him. "The holding company would default on its leverage immediately. The stock would plummet. The board members who backed him would lose everything. It wouldn't just strip him of his title; it would leave him penniless in the street."
"Exactly," Michael whispered, turning his gaze back to the window as the snow-capped peaks of the Swiss Alps came into view. "I told him I was going to leave him with nothing. And I always keep my promises."
