CHAPTER 182

CHAPTER 182
Vincent Cole walked into the boardroom at the top floor of Cole enterprises with a calmness that did not match the tension sitting in his shoulders.

Today, however, the air felt heavier, thicker, as if it sensed something irreversible was about to happen.

Age and guilt had carved new lines on his face, but determination sharpened every one of them. He took his seat at the head of the table, the place he had commanded for decades, and folded his hands over a folder thick with legal papers.

The long walnut table reflected the soft amber lights above it, and the tall windows framed the city’s skyline as though the world bowed to whatever was decided inside this room. 

Around him, board members murmured, greeting him politely, some eager, some cautious, some suspicious. Adrian Reyes sat on the left side, posture perfect, jaw tight, eyes cold even before the meeting began. He looked like a man preparing for war disguised as corporate diplomacy. Viviana sat beside him, her chin lifted, her expression smooth, but her fingers tapped lightly beneath the table, betraying a tremor of unease she could not seem to silence.

She studied her father from across the glossy table, wondering what this surprise meeting was about. When he had returned from a business trip abroad – which she had always known was cover whenever he needed to think about something without being disturbed– he had immediately called for a meeting with high-level executives and shareholders. The last few weeks had been chaos inside the mansion, inside her own life, inside her heart. She hadn’t felt truly steady in weeks. Nothing was going to plan ever since the Cruz’s came into Amelia’s picture. But today she needed to appear composed. Powerful. In control.

Except something in Vincent’s eyes unsettled her. A softness threaded through his gaze, the same softness she had seen when he looked at Amelia. Viviana swallowed hard, refusing to let the thought take root. It wouldn’t be anything major. Probably a reorganization of departments. 

But when Vincent lifted the folder in front of him, her stomach dropped. He only brought out that folder for matters tied to legacy.

And legacy, she knew, was a dangerous word when Amelia existed.

Vincent cleared his throat, and the room fell quiet.

“Thank you all for coming on short notice,” he began. His voice was gentle, but there was an undercurrent of resolve that pulled everyone's attention to him instantly. “I called this meeting because it is time for something I should have done long ago. Something overdue.”

Adrian stiffened without meaning to. Viviana felt her pulse at her throat.

Vincent continued, “I have been discussing with my legal team the matter of transferring part of my shares.”

Adrian’s heart collided sharply against his ribs. Shares. Vincent’s shares. His mind leapt through a maze of possibilities, calculations, safeguards. 

Viviana sat straighter, her breath frozen in her chest. Shares. She had proved herself. She had dedicated her life to this company. She had sacrificed more than anyone else. And yet she almost knew the exact words that would be coming out of her father’s mouth.

But Vincent wasn’t looking at her.  He didn’t see how hurt she was, how these few weeks had been leaving raw with hurt. He was looking toward the door….

The door that swung open a moment later.

Amelia stepped in, wearing a simple cream blouse tucked neatly into dark trousers. Her hair was brushed back, her makeup soft, her face glowing with a freshness none of them had expected to see in a place like this. The board members turned toward her with a mix of surprise and curiosity. Adrian’s jaw tightened visibly. Viviana felt her stomach twist into a hard knot.

Vincent nodded at her gently. “Thank you for coming, sweetheart. Please, sit.”

Amelia walked to the empty chair beside him. Her steps were controlled but slightly nervous; she wasn’t used to boardrooms or shareholder meetings or the pressure of forty eyes studying her every move. Still, she sat gracefully.

Viviana felt the knot in her stomach tighten further, twisting so painfully she almost gasped. No. This was not happening. Her father was not seriously…

Vincent opened the folder.

“As of this morning,” he announced, “I have formally transferred five percent of my shares in Cole Enterprises to my daughter, Amelia Harper Cole.”

The words fell into the room like heavy stones dropped through still water. There was no whisper at first, no shuffle of paper, no scraping of chairs. Just silence, thick and strangled.

Then the reactions began.

One executive blinked hard, as though trying to make sure he’d heard correctly. Another shifted uncomfortably. Someone scribbled something on their tablet with shaking fingers. The CFO exhaled sharply under his breath. And then there was Adrian Reyes, who felt every inch of his composure snap beneath the weight of what he had just heard.

Five percent. Five. Not 3.5. Not a symbolic fraction. Enough to change voting dynamics entirely. Enough to make Amelia impossible to dismiss, impossible to side-line. Enough to destroy months of his groundwork.

His hands curled beneath the table, nails biting into his palms. His pulse hammered so loudly he wondered if the others could hear it. His smile - a faint, tight-lipped curve - was the only part of him that stayed intact as his plans began to bleed out all over the glossy walnut.

Viviana wasn’t smiling. She couldn’t. Her vision blurred around the edges as her father continued speaking.

“I chose that number intentionally,” Vincent said. “Because what I owe my daughter cannot be measured in percentages. She deserves a place in this legacy. A real place.”

A sharp burn spread through Viviana’s chest. A real place. As if she had never fought for hers. As if she had not bled for it, worked for it, moulded herself into the daughter he wanted. Her nails bit into her palm. She blinked hard, trying to steady her breathing.

Vincent looked around the table. “From this day forward, Amelia will join us for shareholder briefings. She will learn the company’s operations. She will see first-hand how the enterprise built in my name must now evolve beyond me.”

The board members nodded hesitantly. Most looked supportive, few were troubled, but they all knew that Amelia deserved it after she had proved her place at the Cole empire.

Vincent added softly, “I know that giving her these shares means I no longer hold majority voting power. I now hold forty-nine percent. Any major decision will require board approval, and I accept that. It is time.”

Another ripple of surprise swept across the room.

Adrian felt something darker coil inside him. Fifty-four percent down to forty-nine. With a single decision, Vincent had stripped himself of unilateral authority and shifted the balance of power into hands he could not control. Into Amelia’s hands. 

He turned his head slightly, meeting Viviana’s gaze.

Her eyes were wide. Shattered. Furious. Hurt.

Their gazes locked for a brief, electrified second - two wounded predators realizing the ground under them was not only shifting, but collapsing.

Vincent, unaware of the silent war erupting two seats away, placed his hand gently on Amelia’s.

“I trust my daughters,” he said. “Both of them. And I believe they will guide this company to a future stronger than anything I could build alone.”

Viviana swallowed a scream that clawed up her throat. Daughters. Equal daughters. Shares for Amelia. Public recognition. Legal power. She felt betrayed in a way she hadn’t thought possible, as though a lifetime of devotion had been overshadowed by a girl who had arrived with nothing but a tragic past and a lucky DNA test.

Adrian’s mind raced through possible countermoves - shareholder alliances, private leverage, pressure points, sabotage

Amelia, unaware of the inner storms around her, looked overwhelmed in her own right. She wasn’t used to praise, much less power. Her heart thudded anxiously as she looked at Vincent, her eyes shining with a complicated mix of gratitude, disbelief, and fear. She whispered, “Thank you… I don’t know what to say.”

Vincent squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to say anything today. Just learn. Grow. And know you belong here.”

The room shifted again, subtly, as though accepting a new gravitational centre.

But beneath the polished table, hidden from the cameras and polite nods, Adrian’s nails dug deeper into his palms. And beside him, Viviana’s wrist trembled as she held her pen so tightly it threatened to snap.

Amelia had been given power.