Inheritance ✔

Chapter 29 - Fire Exit

Laurier Ashford's POV

They called it a controlled rebranding.

But it felt more like a funeral.

A week after Kyoto, Intercorp was ready to unveil its next phase—its rebirth. The press had already begun whispering: new ethics board, new corporate structure, dissolving shell subsidiaries linked to old biotech labs.

All orchestrated by me.

The "Ice Queen," they called me.

But they had no idea how close they were to the truth.

Only this time, I was burning the empire from the inside out—and I'd be the one to rise from its ashes.

The boardroom was quiet that morning.

No press yet. No flashing cameras. Just a room full of men and women who once looked at me as the heir of myth, now wondering what I would become next.

Renzo stood behind me as always. Not just my secretary anymore. Not just my shadow.

My shield.

Beside him, Iris manned the comms. Mateo stood by the exit with his usual predator stillness.

The silence broke when Clara entered.

She was dressed plainly, hair pulled back, travel bag slung over her shoulder.

"I'm leaving tonight," she said softly.

I nodded. "Switzerland?"

"Geneva." She handed me a small drive. "Before I go... you need to see this."

I hesitated, then took it. Plugged it into my tablet.

A screen lit up. Security footage.

Internal Intercorp servers.

And then—him.

A familiar face.

One of our senior advisors.

Board member.

Thomas Reyes.

He was in Dagon's Kyoto lab. Weeks before we raided it. Shaking hands with a tech in Vireon Systems uniform. Smiling.

I stared, heart thudding.

"He helped fund the final Sequence trial," Clara said. "I found his name on the donor records linked to Vireon's shell accounts. He kept Dagon supplied with internal data. Even gave him false GPS on your convoy movements during the first ambush."

Renzo muttered a curse behind me.

I straightened slowly.

"Where is he now?"

"Already in the building," Iris said, checking the guest registry. "He arrived twenty minutes ago. Room 72."

"Alone?"

"No," Mateo said. "He brought two assistants. But they're not assistants."

"Security?"

"None of ours. Probably armed."

I looked at Renzo.

He was already reaching for his sidearm.

Room 72 – Executive Wing

The air was thick with tension.

Renzo and I stepped into the hallway, Mateo following close behind. The rest of the staff had been cleared. Press briefing delayed. Security was sealing exits quietly.

We knocked once.

Then pushed the door open.

Thomas stood near the glass wall, back turned, sipping coffee like he still had a future here.

When he turned, he didn't even pretend to look surprised.

"You always were too clever for your own good, Laurier."

"And you always underestimated women raised by wolves," I said calmly.

Renzo closed the door behind us.

Thomas didn't reach for his weapon.

He knew better.

"I did what had to be done," he said. "You were reckless. You were emotional. You were ruining the legacy your father built—"

"You mean the one built on secrets, buried children, and DNA experiments?"

He flinched, just a little.

"I protected the vision."

I stepped closer.

"You betrayed the family. You enabled a madman. You let Dagon near me. Near my sister. Near her."

I tossed a tablet onto the table.

Rosette's face stared back.

Eyes open now. Awake. Learning how to be human.

"You helped make her. You sold her."

He opened his mouth.

Renzo raised the gun.

"I wouldn't," he said, voice like ice.

Thomas finally broke. "You think removing me fixes this? There are others. Investors. Quiet ones. They believed in Dagon's work. They believed in progress."

"No," I said. "They believed in power."

I walked right up to him, took the drive Clara gave me, and shoved it in his pocket.

"You walk out of here, you testify publicly. You give us names. Documents. Accounts. Everything."

He sneered. "And if I don't?"

I smiled faintly.

"Then I'll let her handle you."

Renzo didn't blink.

Thomas stared at him—then at me—and something in his expression broke.

Fear.

Genuine.

He backed away. "Fine."

An hour later, the press briefing began.

I stood at the podium, hair tied back, no makeup except for red lipstick. The color of war. The color of rebirth.

"Intercorp has undergone radical change in the last year," I said. "We've faced corruption. Internal decay. External sabotage."

Flashbulbs exploded. The cameras clicked.

"But we're still here."

My voice was steady. Cold and sharp.

"Because when you try to burn a woman like me down to ash—she learns how to rise on fire."

Renzo stood beside the stage.

Clara was gone, already on the plane. Rosette was sleeping in the next room. Mateo stood with Iris by the exit, nodding as press questions flew.

And me?

I had never felt more like Laurier Ashford than I did right then.

Not an heir.

Not a weapon.

Not a genetic sequence.

Just a woman who refused to die quietly.