Chapter 26 Clash
When Adeline pushed open the conference room doors, the conversation inside the room stopped immediately. The chairs stopped moving, papers were left half-turned, and for a brief moment it felt like the air itself had been pulled out of the room. Every single person seated around the long table turned to look at her as if they had just seen something unexpected walk in.
Yuna stepped in behind her and quietly closed the door, but Adeline barely noticed. Her attention was already on the people in the room.
Her father sat at the far end of the table, exactly where he always sat during board meetings. His posture was stiff, his face expressionless, but she could already see the anger burning quietly behind his eyes. Nathan sat only two seats away from him, leaning back in his chair with the kind of relaxed arrogance that always made Adeline want to roll her eyes.
For a few seconds, no one spoke.
Then Nathan broke the silence. He slowly clapped his hands together, the sound echoing slightly in the room. The smile on his face was wide, smug, and clearly meant to provoke her.
“Well, well,” he said loudly. “If it isn’t the woman of the moment.”
A few of the board members shifted in their seats, clearly uncomfortable with his tone, but Nathan continued anyway.
“I’m glad you could finally join us,” he added with a mock look of concern. “With how busy your messy private life has been lately, I honestly thought you might have forgotten you still had a company to run.”
Adeline didn’t respond right away. Instead, she allowed a small smirk to form on her lips as she began walking toward the table. Her heels clicked steadily against the floor, the sound loud and deliberate. The room remained silent as she moved closer, her eyes scanning the people seated around the table one by one.
When she reached her usual seat, she stopped.
Someone else was sitting in it.
The man occupying her chair looked up at her nervously the moment she stood there. He had clearly been hoping she wouldn’t show up at all. Adeline slowly looked him up and down, her expression filled with open disgust.
The man swallowed and immediately stood up. She could see the frustration in his face as he stepped aside, but he didn’t argue. Everyone in that room knew exactly how stubborn she could be. If he refused to move, she probably would have pushed him off the chair herself, and no one wanted to see that happen.
Adeline pulled the chair out and sat down calmly, placing the tablet Yuna had prepared in front of her. She leaned back slightly in the seat, her posture relaxed, even though every eye in the room was still fixed on her.
Finally, she turned her attention to the man sitting across from her.
Her father.
“Are you really planning to dismiss me from my position,” she asked calmly, “simply because of a scandal that could easily be resolved?”
Jonathan Carter let out a short, cold scoff. “There is no way a scandal involving the Hale family can ever be resolved,” he replied sharply. “You have dragged the Carter name, and this entire company, into an irreversible mess.”
Adeline rolled her eyes in response, the movement slow and unapologetic. “If we’re dismissing people based on their personal lives,” she said lightly, “shouldn’t both you and Nathan have been dismissed years ago?”
The room went still again. Nathan straightened in his chair immediately, glaring at her. Jonathan’s expression darkened, but Adeline continued speaking before either of them could respond.
“Let’s start with Nathan,” she said, turning slightly toward her older brother. “My dear brother here has more DUI charges under his belt than he has actual achievements in this company, not to mention the fact that he’s had more affair partners than any normal person should reasonably manage.”
Nathan slammed his hand on the table. “That’s not…”
Adeline lifted her hand sharply. “Quiet!”
The single word stopped him. The authority in her voice was enough to silence him before he could finish whatever excuse he had been about to make, and she didn’t even look at him again as she turned back to Jonathan.
“As for you,” she continued calmly, “you’ve had several affairs throughout your marriage, and when your wife died, you didn’t even bother pretending to mourn for long before marrying one of those same affair partners.”
Several people around the table shifted uncomfortably.
Adeline leaned forward slightly, her voice steady but cutting. “And yet,” she continued, “despite all that dirt on your name and the many other allegations floating around about your behavior over the years, not once has there ever been a board meeting to discuss dismissing either of you.”
Her eyes moved slowly across the room. “But suddenly,” she added with a faint smile, “I have to be dismissed for my first and only controversy?”
The room stayed silent. Nathan opened his mouth again, clearly desperate to defend himself, but Adeline raised her hand once more without even looking at him.
“Don’t bother, brother,” she said flatly.
Then she turned her attention to the rest of the board members sitting around the table. One by one, she pointed toward them.
“You,” she said calmly. “And you. And you.”
Several men shifted in their seats immediately. “Can any of you honestly swear,” she continued, “that you don’t have a few skeletons hiding in your own closets?”
No one answered.
Adeline’s smile widened slightly. “Because if you’d like,” she added sweetly, “I would be more than happy to remind some of you about your own little controversies.”
The silence that followed was heavy. A few of the board members cleared their throats awkwardly, and others suddenly found the papers in front of them very interesting, but no one met her eyes.
Adeline leaned back in her chair again, satisfied. Finally, she looked back at her father, and Jonathan Carter looked furious. His jaw was tight, his hands clenched on the table in front of him.
Adeline smiled at him calmly. “If you’re really planning to dismiss me,” she said lightly, “then I’d be perfectly happy to leave.”
Nathan’s face lit up slightly at those words, but Adeline wasn’t finished.
“I would, however,” she continued slowly, “be taking every single project currently under my management with me.”
The room went still again. She leaned forward slightly, her voice calm but firm. “And that includes the Kiyoshi Enterprises partnership.”
The effect of those words was immediate, and Jonathan’s expression changed instantly.
That project was the crown jewel of Carter Global’s recent success. It was the partnership Jonathan had chased for years without success. It was the deal her brothers had all failed to secure.
It was the deal Adeline had closed.
She folded her hands calmly on the table. “The same project you wanted so badly,” she continued softly, “but could never get on your own.”
Nathan looked at their father in confusion, and Jonathan’s silence told him everything.
Adeline leaned back comfortably in her chair again, a small smirk appearing on her face as she looked between the two men sitting across from her.
“The choice is yours,” she said simply.
Then she crossed one leg over the other and waited.