Chapter 9 - THE CONFRONTATION IN THE SNOW
By 5:00 PM, a heavy snow had begun to fall, dusting the streets of Bellweather in soft, powdery white.
The green tractor was parked down the street, and the sound of laughter echoed through the neighborhood as Emily, Sophie, and Naomi enjoyed rides around the block in the hay-lined trailer, wrapped in warm blankets, with Thomas Mercer’s sons guiding the team.
Adrian stood near the curb, watching his daughters laugh.
Sophie was tossing small handfuls of snow into the air. Naomi was pointing up at the streetlights, explaining to Thomas’s youngest son how snow crystals formed in clouds. And Emily... Emily was sitting near the front of the trailer, watching Adrian with a soft, thoughtful look in her gray-blue eyes.
Suddenly, a slick white Cadillac pulled up behind Adrian’s Rolls-Royce, its tires spinning against the fresh snow.
The door flew open, and Victor Sterling stepped out, wearing an expensive cashmere coat, holding a leather briefcase.
"Adrian!" Victor shouted, marching across the snow-covered lawn toward him. "You ignored my emails! You ignored the board’s emergency notice! You are officially removed as CEO of Wolfe Industrial Group!"
Adrian didn't flinch. He turned slowly, looking at his former CFO with absolute, unyielding coldness.
"You took a vote without me, Victor," Adrian said calmly.
"We had a legal quorum!" Victor sneered, waving a document in Adrian’s face. "The company stock is down six percent! You are sacrificing a multi-billion-dollar empire for three kids you didn't even know existed four days ago!"
Claire Collins stepped out onto the front porch, her hands clenching into fists as she heard Victor’s shouting. The tractor stopped down the street, and the three girls climbed out of the trailer, running back toward their grandmother’s house.
Victor turned toward the girls, pointing a finger at them dismissively.
"Look at this!" Victor mocked bitterly. "The great Adrian Wolfe, reduced to playing father to three country brats in a rundown town!"
In a fraction of a second, Adrian moved.
He closed the distance between them, grabbing Victor by the lapels of his cashmere coat, slamming him against the side of the white Cadillac with terrifying, explosive speed!
Victor gasped, his briefcase dropping into the snow as Adrian’s dark eyes burned into his with lethal fury.
"Speak about my daughters like that again," Adrian growled, his voice dropping into a deadly whisper that made Victor’s blood run cold, "and I will personally buy every piece of debt you own, strip your private assets, and ensure you never work in corporate finance for the rest of your life."
Victor trembled, his face turning ghostly white as he felt the absolute power behind Adrian’s threat.
"I... I have the board vote..." Victor stammered desperately.
"You have six board members," Adrian corrected icy cold. "I own fifty-two percent of the Class A voting stock in Wolfe Industrial Group, Victor. My legal counsel filed a corporate injunction an hour ago. You aren't the CEO. You are fired."
Adrian let go of his coat, letting Victor stumble back into the snow.
May you like
"Get out of my town," Adrian commanded softly.
Victor scrambled into his white Cadillac, slammed the door, and drove away so fast his tires screeched against the icy asphalt.
