Chapter 167: The Bombshell

Ethan was not Olivia's immediate next of kin, so he could not file for her death certificate at that time.

He didn't care at all. To him, it was just a formality.

Just as he was about to call a board meeting to announce Olivia's death, Gavin walked over holding a share transfer agreement.

"Sorry to break it to you, Mr. Wood. You probably won't be inheriting Ms. Ross's shares. We completed the deal before her accident. Now you and I each hold 35% of the company."

Gavin looked thoroughly pleased with himself, eyeing Ethan like he was looking at a complete loser.

Ethan's expression changed instantly, and the words flew out of his mouth.

"That's impossible! Olivia never intended to sell her shares to you. She was clearly..."

The words caught in his throat. He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence — "just trying to squeeze more money out of me."

Gavin then played a video that clearly showed the entire process of Olivia signing the share transfer agreement. The transaction records also confirmed that a large sum of money had been deposited into Olivia's account.

Ethan's face turned dark with rage. He lowered his voice to a cold, tight growl.

"Even if we hold equal shares, I'm still President of Wood Corporation. Gavin, you'd better show me some respect."

"Don't be so sure about that."

A flash of excitement crossed Gavin's eyes as he laid out every piece of evidence he had.

"Ethan, you're suspected of embezzling company funds. Even as President, you owe every board member here an explanation today."

He spread a stack of documents across the table and handed a copy to each director present.

Watching Ethan's expression grow darker by the second, Gavin's smile grew wider.

The board members studied the transaction records and hard evidence, their faces all turning grave.

One director who had been close to the Wood family for years lowered his voice, his tone heavy with disappointment.

"Ethan, is this true? How could you embezzle company funds? This is illegal!"

Ethan kept his face stone-cold, his voice clipped.

"There's been a misunderstanding. Give me some time and I'll give everyone a proper explanation."

"Give you time?"

Gavin let out an exaggerated gasp and pressed harder.

"We all know how Ethan operates. Who's to say that if we give him time, he won't take the money and run?"

He kept working the room, stirring everyone up.

"You all know that Wood Corporation is in deep trouble right now, and it all traces back to Ethan making enemies of the Campbell family, which got the entire group blacklisted across the industry. On top of that, his messy personal life and constant scandals have cost the company enormously, time and time again."

"Since we're all here, I'm calling for a vote to remove Ethan from the presidency!"

Gavin held up the share transfer agreement and spoke plainly.

"I know you all have history with him, but loyalty doesn't pay the bills. We have to protect this company."

His ambitions were out in the open for everyone to see, and while every person in the room understood exactly what he was doing, not one of them spoke up against him.

Ethan's face went completely dark. In all his years, he had never been humiliated like this.

He tried to calm everyone down, but the board members' minds were already made up.

The meeting ended badly, with nothing resolved.

The veteran directors didn't take a public stance, but they were all sharp operators — their intentions were already crystal clear.

Word of it all quickly reached Saskia.

Her face twisted with fury as she spat through clenched teeth.

"Damn little bitch! She's still stirring up trouble even in death!"

After watching the video Gavin had released, Saskia turned and fixed her glare on Ethan.

"Didn't you say Olivia was just putting on a show and would eventually let you take over her shares?"

Ethan said nothing and didn't deny it.

He had genuinely believed that. With Wood Corporation struggling and everyone dumping their shares at a loss, Olivia had done the opposite — offering a 10% premium above market price. He had been convinced she was just trying to squeeze a little extra out of him before handing the shares over. It had never crossed his mind that she would actually sell to someone else.

But she had meant every bit of it.

Saskia kept going on beside him, and Ethan finally hit his limit. He slammed his hand down hard on the coffee table.

"Enough! Stop talking! If you hadn't insisted on transferring 10% of the shares to Martin, none of this would have happened!"

Saskia flinched, then her own temper flared.

"Now you're blaming me? You agreed to it too! Let me make this clear — Wood Corporation was built by your grandfather with his own hands. It cannot fall into someone else's hands. I don't care how you do it, but you get those shares back. Otherwise, you are no son of mine!"

Saskia stormed off in a rage, taking Martin with her back to the family estate.

Ethan was seething, but there was nothing he could do.

He knew the board members had stayed quiet earlier only because they didn't want to burn their bridges with him completely. But now that he and Gavin were tied on shares, the presidency could change hands at any moment.

As much as it killed him, he had no choice but to have Holden move immediately and buy up whatever shares were still floating on the market, at whatever price it took.

But the news Holden brought back was bad.

"What do you mean all 15% of the floating shares have already been bought up? What have you people been doing?!"

Holden looked helpless and kept his voice low.

"Whoever did it covered their tracks completely. We had no idea it was happening. When we finally traced it, the buyer had no obvious background and refused to sell. We offered a 50% premium before they even agreed to talk."

Ethan nearly choked with rage.

He had already hated paying Olivia's 10% premium. Now someone was demanding 50%, and it was obvious they knew exactly how badly he needed those shares.

Ethan's eyes were shot through with red. The words came out through gritted teeth.

"Get those shares at any cost. If we don't have the cash, sell the properties — sell every fixed asset we have."

It genuinely hurt him to say it.

The company's assets had been shrinking, his liquid funds were already gone, and now he had no choice but to sell off everything in his name just to plug the hole.

Holden didn't dare say another word. He backed out of the room immediately, not wanting to be the next target of Ethan's anger.

Afraid of losing more ground, they rushed to list the properties at heavily discounted prices. Even as the offers came in far below value, Ethan gritted his teeth and bought up every last floating share.

He had just finished dealing with everything and was quietly telling himself he still had a chance to turn this around, when his phone buzzed on the desk.

He picked up, and Simon's smug, triumphant laughter came through the line.

"Mr. Wood, that was quite a move. Thank you for the funds and the properties — I'll gladly take them off your hands! Ha!"

Ethan's mind raced, and in an instant, everything clicked into place.

This had been Simon's setup from the very beginning. Even the share transfer to Gavin had been part of a plan he and Olivia had worked out in advance.

The hand resting on Ethan's desk clenched into a fist, his knuckles cracking, his rage hitting a point he had never reached before.

At that moment, Holden burst into the office, visibly shaken.

"Sir, we have a problem! All the evidence Gavin presented at the board meeting has been leaked to the media. It's all over the internet — the story about you embezzling company funds is everywhere!"

"And there's more! An old story about Mrs. Wood abandoning her eldest son has resurfaced. People are starting to question whether Jeffrey's death was really an accident, and they're pointing the finger directly at you!"

"On top of that, Ms. Seraphina Wood has been exposed for paying someone to write her thesis and for bullying a classmate to death while she was in school. The university has officially revoked her degree and expelled her!"