Chapter 326
If she walked away now, she kept her pride. But Effie lost her justice. And InnoTech — the company built on her stolen technology — would continue to fund Kaiden’s Ivy League future while her daughter was pushed into the shadows.
Pride was expensive. Revenge was profitable.
Isolde turned on her heel. Her stilettos clicked against the marble floor in a sharp, rhythmic cadence, like a countdown. She pushed the heavy oak doors of Grayson’s office open without knocking.
Grayson was still at his desk, rubbing his temples. He looked up, startled. A flicker of relief crossed his face — he thought she had come back to accept reality. To accept the check.
Isolde walked to the desk. The check for $100,000 lay there, a crisp rectangle of paper with her daughter’s trauma reduced to a number.
She picked it up.
Grayson exhaled. “I knew you’d be reasonable. It’s a lot of money. It will help with the transfer costs.”
Isolde held his gaze. Then, slowly and deliberately, she tore the check down the middle.
Rip.
𝗦𝘩𝖺𝘳𝖾 𝘆ou𝗿 𝘁𝗁𝗈𝘂ght𝘀 o𝘯 𝘨a𝘭𝘯𝘰v𝖾𝘭ѕ.c𝘰𝗺
The sound was very loud in the silent office.
She pressed the two halves together and tore them again. And again. Until the check was nothing but confetti. She opened her hand and let the pieces drift down onto the expensive Persian rug.
“My daughter’s trauma is not a line item in your budget, Grayson,” she said. Her voice was steady, stripped of the tears he had been expecting.
Grayson leaned back in his leather chair, the creak of it filling the silence. His relief curdled into annoyance.
“It’s a standard settlement, Isolde. Don’t be dramatic. You need the money.”
“Standard? For systematic abuse? For a hate crime committed by a minor?”
Isolde reached into her pocket and placed a small silver USB drive gently on the mahogany desk, precisely where the check had been.
“This drive contains the unedited footage,” she said, her voice dropping an octave. “Not just the slide incident. The lunchroom. The bathroom. The audio is crystal clear.”
Grayson stared at the small metal device.
“If I release this to the Board,” Isolde continued, “they won’t just ask about Kaiden. They will question your control over your own house. They will question the stability of a CEO whose heir is a liability.”
Grayson’s eyes narrowed. His jaw tightened. “Are you threatening me?”
“I’m negotiating,” Isolde corrected. “I don’t want your hush money. I want an investment.”
“An investment?” Grayson laughed — a cold, sharp bark. “In what? Your little consulting gig?”
“In Carson Dynamics,” Isolde said. “A strategic R&D grant. Thirty million dollars, directed into a firewalled fund for the Phoenix-X7 project I am currently leading.”
Grayson looked at her as though she had grown a second head. “Carson Dynamics is a ghost. It has no assets. That’s charity, not business.”
“Call it an apology tax,” Isolde said. “Thirty million. Or the video goes to the New York Times and the Board of Directors simultaneously.”
She leaned forward and placed her hands flat on his desk.
“And I want a public apology from Kaiden to Effie. In writing.”
.
.