Chapter 43 Loyalty
Mark’s POV
“Finish that sentence, and I’ll bury every last one of you.”
The glass doors slammed open as I stepped into the boardroom, rain still dripping from my coat.
The room froze.
Dozens of eyes turned toward me, men and women in polished suits, hands hovering midair over coffee cups and spreadsheets.
At the head of the table sat Daniel.
He was way too calm for Daniel Simmons.
He didn’t flinch, nor didn’t stand up to talk back.
He just sat there, folding his hands neatly, as if he’d been expecting this.
“Mark,” one of the directors stammered, “we didn’t expect…”
“I can see that.” I walked forward, each step deliberate.
The sound of my boots against the marble floor filled the silence like a heartbeat.
“Go on. Keep talking about my ‘resignation.’”
They all held their tongues tightly.
I stopped at the far end of the table, next to Daniel, and dropped a black folder with a heavy thud.
The papers spilled out across the glossy surface; photos, signed transfer and bank statements.
“What is this?” Mr Hale, Chief Director muttered.
“Proof,” I said coldly.
“Proof of every bribe Davenport fed you to keep replaced me,”
“The Offshore accounts, property deals, political favors she offered, it's all here,”
One of the older directors paled, his pen slipping from his hand. “You can’t just…”
“I can. And I just did.”
I leaned forward slightly, letting the weight of my stare travel around the table.
“You will have to use your votes and reinstall me with or without your 14 days of autumn or else!”
“Each one of you,” I stared intensely, my gazes moving from one person to another “Would spend your remaining years in cell,’’
No one dared oppose me. They all say still.
I turned toward the head seat; my seat and dropped into it, the leather groaning beneath me.
“Now,” I said, resting both hands on the armrests. “Let’s make this official. Vote.”
The boardroom was silent that even a pin drop could be heard.
No hand was raised, no word was voiced.
“Exactly,” I said quietly. “Motion denied.”
Daniel’s lips curved. “You always did love dramatics.”
I looked at him, studying the smugness that hid beneath his easy smirk.
“You want a title so bad?” I said.
“Fine. As a legitimate son of the Simmons, you're given a temporary position of operations director. Until you prove yourself,”
“Tell that to your reporters too,” I smugged at him.
His smirk deepened, but his eyes flickered, that tiny crack of uncertainty he tried to hide.
“I’m glad we understand each other, brother,” I muttered scornfully.
He rose slowly, buttoned his suit, and gave me a half-bow of mock respect.
“Congratulations, Mr. CEO.”
“Thank you”
He left, leaving the faint scent of cologne and ambition in his wake.
The rest of the board followed suit. Quietly, they got up from their seats, slipping out before our eyes.
Upon the last person, the echo of their footsteps faded down the hall.
I sat there for a moment, staring at the city through the glass walls. The rain hadn’t stopped. It blurred the skyline into streaks of gray and silver.
“Arghhh!” I sank into the chair.
Becca's location had been changed. Seems Davenport was still a step ahead of me.
Collins closed the door behind him. “You handled that cleanly, Sir,”
“Clean?” I gave a short, humorless laugh.
“It’s never clean.”
He hesitated before speaking again. “Sir, about Davenport… we can still take her out quietly. Without creating an alarm with the media”
I turned toward him slowly. “I don't think I want that Collins, Becca and her sister are in her custody, whatever we do now must be absolute precautions,” I stated
“After that, I will teach her a lesson that no one mess with Mark Simmons or someone he loves,”
“Should I tell the men to kill her off?” Collins stammered, staring at mr
I cut him off. “No. I want her to watch her empire crumble. Piece by piece.”
Collins lowered his gaze. He’d seen this side of me before.
I thirsted for my revenge.
But beneath it, something else clawed at me now.
Guilt.
“All she did was try to help, getting involved with a dangerous man like me…”
“...and me, all I did was cause her pain. I never really trusted her even though I was the one lying,”
Collins kept quiet, letting me speak.
“When she saw that I was in a mess Daniel created, she came to comfort me but all I did was to humiliate and accuse her,”. Tears had begun to form a cloud in my eyes.
Collins stepped forward quietly. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I always know,” I said. “That’s the problem.”
For a long moment, neither of us spoke. The only sound was the rain.
Then Collins cleared his throat and pulled a small device from his coat ,a phone.
“Ever since we left the warehouse, Davenport have both sending Clips about Becca but there's no information about Danielle,”
I didn’t want to see it, but my fingers were already moving, unlocking the feed.
The screen lit up.
Becca appeared, her face pale, framed by too-bright light.
She sat on the edge of a bed, the same golden room from the background Davenport’s men had described.
Her hands trembled slightly as she lifted her head.
Her lips parted.
“Mark…” Her voice was faint, like she was afraid of being heard. “I’m here. Vault Seventeen.”
The video began to crack.
Vault Seventeen, was there another one?
Why the heck was Davenport allowing me to access this information?
What was her motive?
Question upon questions clouded my mind.
The world around me; the boardroom, the rain, the city … all blurred until there was nothing left but her voice replaying in my head.
Vault Seventeen.
Collins leaned forward. “Sir, what does that mean?”
I was already standing. My pulse
thundered in my ears.
“It means she’s alive.”
“Sir…”
“Get the team,” I snapped. “Trace every file Davenport’s ever hidden under that name. Every property, every alias, every shipment. I want Vault Seventeen on the map in ten minutes.”
Collins hesitated. “And when we find it?”
I met his eyes. “We will burn it.”
I turned toward the window again. Lightning cracked across the sky, illuminating the city like a wound.
Somewhere out there, Becca was trapped, waiting, whispering, believing I’d hear her.
I would burn the world for her. I'm done running away from my emotions.