CHAPTER 186

CHAPTER 186
For a week, Amelia existed only inside her bedroom.

The curtains stayed closed. The lights remained dim. Her phone never stopped vibrating, but each notification felt like a hammer to her ribs. She lay curled beneath blankets that no longer felt warm, listening to the world tearing her apart one headline at a time.

The first day after the breakup, she couldn’t even lift her head. The night replayed in her mind like a nightmare she could not wake from. Matteo’s voice, tight with pain. Leon’s smirk. Amy’s horrified expression. The camera flashes in the hallway. The way her heart cracked open as Matteo walked away from her without looking back.

The shame sat like a stone in her chest.

By the second day, the world had already found out.

The internet, hungry and merciless, devoured the story like something sweet. News outlets ran headlines dripping with scandal. Comment sections swarmed with insults. People who had never met her felt entitled to define her. To punish her. To rewrite her into a villain.

“Amelia Harper Cole caught cheating on Matteo Cruz with colleague.”

“Two-timing heiress breaks the heart of billionaire boyfriend.”

“History repeats: Amelia exposed for loving two men at once.”

And then the worst of them:

“This isn’t the first time - old variety show footage resurfaces proving Amelia’s double life.”
She clicked the link with trembling hands.

There it was.

The same clip Viviana and Adrian had used to humiliate her on the old show. The photos, the twisted narrative, the accusations that she had been playing a rich man and a poor man at the same time. She watched the edited lies again, the ones that once broke her, now weaponized anew. Except this time, people believed them instantly.

Her tears blurred the screen.

“How did this come back?” she whispered to her empty room. “Who… who brought this back now?”

She didn’t need to guess long.

Adrian.

Viviana.

The two vultures who had circled her life long before she knew what fear tasted like.

By the fourth day, brands began contacting Amy. Some suspended contracts pending “investigation.” Others outright withdrew. Amelia read every email in quiet horror. She had worked hard to reach this point. She had tasted success for a heartbeat. And now everything slipped through her fingers like water she couldn’t cup tightly enough to keep.

By the fifth day, her eyes were swollen nearly shut. She cried until she couldn’t produce tears anymore. Then she stopped crying because she felt nothing at all. The silence inside her head frightened her more than the noise outside.

She tried calling Matteo.

Dozens of times.

Each call went unanswered.

She left voice messages, texts, apologies, explanations - anything she could think of. She told him everything she remembered. She told him she had no memory of sending the text. She begged him to believe her.

He never replied.

Not one message.

Not one word.

Nothing.

And Leon…

She never wanted to hear from him again.

On the seventh morning, Amy knocked on her door for the first time since the incident. Her voice was soft but firm.

“Amelia, sweetheart… you need to get up. There’s a mandatory shareholders’ meeting today. You have to attend.”

Amelia stared at the ceiling, her eyes dry and burning. “Why? Is it because of me?” Her voice cracked. “Is it a meeting to fire me from my own father’s company?”

“We don’t know,” Amy said gently. “But you must be there.”

Moving felt impossible, but Amelia forced herself up. She showered slowly, her movements stiff and heavy. She avoided looking at herself in the mirror. She did not want to see what the world had sculpted her into.

She dressed in something simple - a cream blouse and dark trousers - nothing flashy, nothing that drew attention. She tied her hair back because she didn’t have the strength to style it. When Amy saw her in the doorway, the manager’s face softened.

“You look fine,” Amy said, though her voice held worry she couldn’t hide.

A car waited downstairs. The drive was quiet. Amelia watched buildings blur past her window, the city alive in ways she no longer felt she belonged to. When they entered Cole Enterprises, her chest tightened.

Inside the boardroom, nearly every seat was already filled.

Executives whispered. Assistants shifted nervously. A few people glanced at her and quickly turned away, unable or unwilling to mask their curiosity or judgment. She slipped quietly into a corner seat, keeping her head low. Her pulse echoed in her ears.

Then she heard it.

Giggles.

Light, childish, cruel.

She lifted her eyes.

Viviana dressed in oversize clothes and Adrian sat near the centre table, laughing quietly together like two schoolchildren passing notes in class. Viviana’s posture was relaxed, almost smug. She had managed to fool everyone over the past months with her oversize outfits and nobody seemed to notice her growing tummy.

Adrian leaned back comfortably, fingers drumming the table’s polished surface.

They looked like people who had already won.

Amelia’s stomach twisted painfully. She dropped her gaze again.

A moment later, the murmurs grew louder. Someone asked where Vincent was. Someone else mentioned he hadn’t arrived yet. Amelia’s heart thudded harder. Why wasn’t he here? Did he know what was happening? Did he know how bad it had all become?

Adrian stood.

The room fell silent.

“Good morning,” he said smoothly. “Let’s begin.”

One of the older shareholders frowned. “Vincent isn’t here yet. Shouldn’t we wait?”

“No,” Adrian said, his smile polite but sharp. “This meeting was called urgently. And I am the one who called it. So we will proceed.”

A ripple of surprise travelled through the room.

Amelia’s breath caught.

He continued, “I called this meeting to present an agenda that concerns the future of Cole Enterprises.”

Another shareholder leaned forward. “And what agenda is that?”

Adrian clasped his hands behind his back with serene confidence.

“I am calling for an official vote,” he announced. “A vote to remove Vincent Cole as CEO and President of Cole Enterprises.”

The words struck the room like lightning.

Gasps erupted. Executives exchanged alarmed looks. Chairs scraped softly as people shifted in shock.

Amelia’s heart stopped.

Adrian continued calmly, “I believe Vincent is no longer fit to lead this company, and I will outline the reasons for this motion shortly.”

Viviana’s smile widened.

The room was still buzzing with shock when Adrian continued with his speech, his expression calm, his suit perfectly pressed, as if he had prepared for this moment longer than anyone realized. He tapped on the tablet in front of him, and the central screen lit up behind him, displaying graphs and financial reports.

“Let me explain,” Adrian said in a controlled, authoritative voice. “For months now, I have been reviewing Cole Enterprises’ internal financial structures. And what I found is deeply concerning.”

The first slide appeared.

A series of charts with red downward arrows filled the screen, accompanied by highlighted areas that looked alarming only because they were designed to be. A few gasps rippled across the room.

“These,” Adrian continued, sweeping his hand elegantly toward the screen, “are records of questionable spending conducted under Vincent’s direct authorization. Hidden accounts. Transfers that benefited no department. Funds that disappeared with no strategic purpose. And here…” he clicked again… “are the losses that have begun accumulating as a result.”

Amelia felt her palms turn cold. She stared at the images, trying to process what she was seeing. None of it made sense. Vincent was many things - closed-off, guilt-ridden, emotionally stunted - but he was not a thief.

Whispers rose around her.

“I can’t believe this.”

“How could Vincent allow this?”

“I knew the company was declining…”

“This is dangerous.”

Adrian smiled faintly, hearing the whispers like applause.

He continued: “Under his leadership, Cole Enterprises has begun to weaken. Bad investments. Poor decisions. Disregard for internal structure. And now” he clicked to the next slide, “the most concerning decision yet.”

A picture of Amelia flashed across the screen.

Her heart dropped.

“Vincent handed over five percent of his shares to his daughter, and made her company director,” Adrian announced, pausing to let the murmurs swell, “without proper shareholder discussion. Without any assessment of her qualifications. Without ensuring she was stable, prepared, or even suited for corporate responsibility.”

Amelia flinched.

The photograph felt like a slap.

Viviana’s lips curled into a victorious smile.

“And if that was not enough,” Adrian said, pacing slowly across the room, “And by bringing her in as director without following proper channels, Cole Enterprises is now caught up in her current scandal which I might add is one of the many that she has been embroidered in since she joined the company as a trainee. A scandal so severe that the brands she endorses have suspended their contracts. A scandal that brings shame to this company every day it remains alive.”

Amelia’s throat tightened painfully. She felt the stares. The judgment. The accusation.

Adrian clicked again.

A collage of online headlines appeared.

Her humiliation splashed across the giant boardroom screen.

“AMELIA HARPER COLE CAUGHT CHEATING.”

“BREAKING: LOVE TRIANGLE BETWEEN HEIRESS, BILLIONAIRE, AND TRAINEE.”

“COLE ENTERTAINMENT’S SHAME -  NEW DIRECTOR IN SCANDAL.”

Her chest constricted, her breath shaky.

Adrian gestured toward the screen as if presenting evidence in a courtroom.

“This is the woman Vincent chose to hand corporate power to. This is the woman he trusted with shareholders’ futures. This is the woman he brought into executive meetings.”

Amelia looked down, tears burning behind her lids.

Not now.

Please, not now.

“And this disgrace,” Adrian continued calmly, “reflects not just on her, but on the leadership that empowered her.”

He faced the table fully now.

“Vincent has shown poor judgment. Poor leadership. Unsafe decision-making. And now, emotional instability strong enough to jeopardize decades of work.”

Several shareholders nodded.

Some whispered fervently.

Viviana’s eyes glowed with a cruel satisfaction.

Adrian placed both hands on the table and leaned forward.

“It is not personal,” he said smoothly. “It is necessary. For the survival of Cole Enterprises.”

He straightened and addressed the room with finality.

“If no one disagrees with my assessment, then I propose we move forward to the vote.”

The room went still.

Amelia’s breathing grew shallow.

“I request,” Adrian said, “that all shareholders who believe Vincent Cole should be removed as CEO and President…”

He paused.

His eyes swept across the room like a man claiming land.

“…raise your hand.”

Silence stretched.