Page 45 of The Ring Thief
"Effective immediately," I agree cheerfully.
There's an immediate uproar as they all protest, including Ledger, but it dies down as I hold up a hand. "Yes, that is my resignation. As you can see from the papers in front of you, Nexus Capital has always had a dark underbelly, one cultivated by my father, Donald Masters. I was shocked to see that it didn't stop in the three years I took over as CEO, especially when many of you indulged in meetings with him. I'm assuming more than one of you casually handed over confidential information that gave him the ability to undermine deals and investmentsour company had carefully curated." I shoot a glare at Ledger as I drop the last bomb, "The latest victim of his machinations being the Hi-Tech deal."
He stiffens, red across his face and sweat popping out on his forehead. "I don't know what you think you're implying..."
My glare doesn't dim in the slightest. "Oh, so you're denying that you ever told Donald about Hi-Tech's suppliers?"
The man sitting next to Ledger, Gerald, slams a fist down on the table. "Hi-Tech is our deal of the year," he snarls at Ledger. "We're going to make millions?—"
"Were," Carter corrects. "Weweregoing to make millions."
Heads swing back in my direction and I'm only too happy to declare, "The deal has fallen through. Nexus Capital will own no part of Hi-Tech, and neither will anyone with the name Masters."
The room explodes into chaos, shouting and accusations being slung around the room like mud. Eventually, I stand up and give the room a grim smile, waiting for their attention to once again return to me. "My resignation is effective as of today. I've asked my assistant to provide catering in"—I check my watch—“about five minutes, as I'm sure you'll all be here awhile to discuss who might be my interim replacement."
More than one eye goes to Carter, and he immediately shakes his head. "No, thank you. I'll be resigning with him." He jerks his thumb in my direction. "Anyone who's been sitting here listening to Donald Masters isn't someone I want to be working with, or for. Plus, it's only a matter of time before the authorities get involved." He chuckles darkly. "I'm jumping off the sinking ship."
I'm just about to step away and head out of the room when Ledger collapses back in his seat, asking again, "Why would Donald ruin his own company? I don't—" he shakes his head. "It makes no sense."
"For it to make sense," I say quietly, "Donald Masters would have to be a sane man. He isn't. My father is driven by arrogance, ego and the desire for power." I look around the room, finding every single person watching me with intent interest. "I've spent the better part of this year figuring out every move he's ever made within this company, and almost all of it has been on the back of destroying someone else. I would suggestthat you stop listening to his whispers, because chances are, you'll probably be his next target. He clearly had no issues screwing his own son over."
My steps are heavy as I leave Nexus Capital, a cloud of disbelief hanging over my head. It feels strange—a year of moving behind the scenes and working towards this moment, and now that it’s here…it feels anticlimactic. And it’s not over.
My town car is idling at the curb, and I slide in just as my phone rings. I grimace at the screen but accept the call, hearing him shouting before I get the thing to my ear.
“Have you lost your goddamn mind? What the fuck have you done, boy? You’ve just single-handedly destroyed everything I spent years building!”
I say nothing back, thinking back to all the times I’d imagined this moment, dreaming of the smug satisfaction that would fill me as I split his entire world wide open. Instead, I just feel strangely empty, like a husk, void of anything meaningful inside it.
“Are you even listening to me?” he screams. “Answer me!”
My stare drifts out the window, watching as the city passes in a blur.
“I was thinking,” I say quietly, “what means more to Donald Masters than anything else? More than his money, his image, hispower.” There’s a taut silence, broken only by each heaving breath through the line. “It wasn’t hard to come up with the answer—yourlegacy. Someone like you wants to leave behind a memory, a name, long after your body has crumbled to dust. What would people say about you,Dad? Would they remember you as a loving family man? An astute businessman, one that took the world by storm?” I let out a low laugh. “Or the man who liked to fuck his stepsister when she was barely more than a girl.”
He sucks in a sharp breath. “Declan?—”
“I’ve been playing your game since I was born,” I cut him off ruthlessly, my anger slowly rising. “I’ve got all the scars to prove it. I will always hate that it took me so long to open my eyes, but I see you now.” I wait a beat. “I see you for what you really are—a pathetic, corrupt,shell. One who wouldn’t know a good thing if it shot him dead between the eyes.”
“You little fucking shit,” he seethes viciously. I don’t need to be standing in front of him to know what he must look like—ace red and eyes bulging as he realizes the extent of how much I’ve just fucked up his life. “I’ve given you everything?—”
“Did you?” I ask curiously. “It feels like you gave me less than nothing. And if you’re referring to the CEO position, yougaveit to me and then spent the entire three years trying to undermine me, attempting to ensure I’d never outshine you. It’s a little ironic that I still did a better job than you, even when you were fucking around behind the curtains, hm?”
“This isn’t over,” he promises. “You think you can just burn Nexus down and walk away? Your name is all over the place. The feds won’t just let you get away. If I’m going down?—”
“You’ll take me with you?” My laugh is genuine this time. “Fuck, what a cliché you are, throwing some Scooby Doo villain shit at me. You’ve terrorized our family for years, but what happens when no one fears you anymore, Donald?” He doesn’t have an answer for me, but I don’t need one. “It’s over, old man. I seem to have come up with a lot of free time in the near future, and I promise, I’ll devote every single second to making sure you never recover from this. I’ll bury you under every single illegal and immoral act you’ve ever done, starting with what you’ve done to our family.” I wait a beat, letting that sink in. “You’re done.”
“Declan, think about this.” He sounds nervous, a delayed reaction after he’d convinced himself he could still pull my strings. “Your mother. Your brother and sister…You’re not just destroying me. Think about our family.”
“All I’m thinking about ismyfamily,” I say, and then end the call, slumping back against my seat.
I should feel elated, but it feels like a meaningless victory without my wife. Hindsight is a goddamn bitch, leaving me wondering what might’ve been different if I’d told Lily from the start. Maybe she was right, and she would’ve helped me. Or I would’ve still lost her, but it wouldn’t have hurt as much as this does. Either way, Lily’s the reason Ihad the courage to go after Donald like this, and I won’t just let her go. No matter if it takes a year or more, I’ll show her things are different this time.
I’ll show herI’mdifferent.
The driver pulls up alongside a familiar building, and I open the door, looking back at him. “I won’t be long, Tim. Wait here for me.” He tips his chin and I get out, heading through the front door of the elegant lobby
The front desk attendant recognizes me with a polite, “Mr. Masters.”
