The Supreme Son in Law

Chapter 6

The living room was so quiet you could hear the rain outside.

Dominic’s question hung in the air:

"Did you authorize this, Miss Sterling, or should I have my security remove him?"

Beatrice gasped, her hand covering her mouth.

Her uncle, Felix lunged forward, reaching for the phone. "Clara, tell him yes! Tell him you approved it!"

Old Madam held up her hand, stopping Felix in his tracks. She leaned toward Clara, her eyes sharp and urgent.

"Tell him yes, Clara," Old Madam whispered. "Say Derek is your business partner. Be quick about it."

Clara looked at the phone on the glass table.

Then she looked at Ethan.

Ethan stood beside her. He did not say a word. His face was calm, and his eyes were steady.

Clara remembered Derek's cocky childish nature. She remembered Felix pulling his money out of the lab to sabotage her. She remembered that all the problems she's dealing with today started because of them to begin with.

She was not going to let them have their way this time.

Clara leaned toward the speaker.

"No, Mr. Cross," Clara said. "I did not authorize it. Derek took those files without my permission."

Beatrice screamed, "Clara, no!"

Dominic’s voice came back immediately, cold and firm:

"Understood, Miss Sterling. My security team is removing him from the building right now. Please bring your original patent documents to my office. I will only discuss this project with you."

The call ended with a click.

The room fell into dead silence.

"You i***t!" Beatrice shrieked, her face turning red. "How could you possibly do that?!"

Before Beatrice could step closer, Felix’s phone started ringing.

Felix answered on speaker with trembling hands. "Derek? Derek, are you okay?"

Derek’s voice came through, loud and hysterical.

"Dad! Help me!" Derek sobbed into the phone. "Two guards grabbed me by my arms! I don't know why they're doing this. What do I do, Everyone is watching!"

"Where are the patent files?!" Felix shouted.

"They confiscated them!" Derek cried. "The head of security took the folder! He said if any Sterling tries to use those stolen papers again, Sovereign Apex will sue our family into the ground! Dad, my suit is ruined, what is going on—"

Felix dropped his phone onto the couch.

Old Madam’s face turned gray. She sat back on the carved wooden chair, her hands gripping her cane until her knuckles went white.

Sixty million dollars was slipping right through their fingers.

Old Madam looked up at Clara.

For the first time, there was no arrogance in the old woman’s eyes, she became very cautious.

"Clara," Old Madam said. Her voice was strained. "Chairman Cross wants to see you. Go on, attend him!"

Clara did not move.

"Why should I?" Clara asked.

Felix stepped forward. "What do you mean, why should you?! Sixty million dollars is on the line!"

"Yeah why should I?" Clara bit back, "Why should I? When I know you'll just force me to hand everything over and give me and Ethan nothing?"

Old Madam swallowed hard. She leaned on her cane and stood up.

"If you secure this contract," Old Madam said slowly, "your laboratory becomes a completely separate company. The family will not touch your shares. You will keep forty percent of all profits attributed to us."

"Fifty percent," Clara said. "And Derek is never allowed near my office again."

Beatrice opened her mouth to yell, but Old Madam cut her off with a sharp glare.

"Done," Old Madam said. "Take the original certificates. Go now."

Clara turned around, picked up her small leather bag from the counter, and walked out the front door. Ethan followed right beside her.

Twenty minutes later, a yellow taxi stopped across the street from the Sovereign Apex Tower.

The rain was pouring hard against the towering glass building.

Clara paid the driver and stepped out onto the wet sidewalk, holding a black umbrella. Ethan walked next to her, his hands in his coat pockets.

Clara looked up at the massive building. Her hands were shaking slightly.

"Ethan," she whispered. "What if Chairman Cross doesn't like my presentation? What if he rejects the clinical data?"

"He won't," Ethan said. "Your grandfather's research is the best in the province. Just show him the numbers."

They walked toward the wide stone steps leading to the revolving doors.

Sitting on the bottom step, soaked to the skin, was Derek. His gray suit was covered in street mud, his hair was plastered to his forehead, and his lip was bleeding.

He looked up and saw Clara.

Derek opened his mouth to say something, but another man suddenly pushed past him.

Julian Mercer walked out from under the building's concrete overhang.

Julian looked like a madman. His navy suit jacket was gone. His white shirt was soaked, his tie hung loose around his neck, and his eyes were completely bloodshot.

Julian had spent the last two hours trying to see Chairman Cross, begging the front desk to release his family's frozen accounts. The security team had pushed him out into the rain three times.

Julian’s eyes locked onto Clara.

His face twisted into pure desperation. He reached inside his wet shirt and pulled out the folded five-million-dollar debt agreement.

Julian lunged down the steps straight toward Clara.

"Clara!" Julian yelled, waving the paper in her face. "You sign your company over to me right now! Give me your laboratory shares so I can use them for collateral, or I swear to God I will have you arrested before you take another step!"

Ethan stepped forward.

He placed himself directly between Julian and Clara, his eyes turning pitch-black.

"Take one more step toward my wife," Ethan said quietly, "and you won't live to see your company go bankrupt."