Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Blackthorn’s convoy moved through the rain-slick streets toward Hart Corporation. Every office light was on, even though it was barely dawn.

Kaitlyn sat in the back seat, watching the skyline blur through the window. Her reflection stared back, nothing like the girl who had once walked into the house to find blood on the floor.

The city looked desolate at this hour.

Moore’s voice came through her earpiece. “They are already in session. Reagen called the emergency vote early. She wants your shares stripped before the markets open.”

“I expected that,” Kaitlyn murmured.

Vincent glanced at her from the front seat. “Security at the entrance is doubled. She is expecting trouble.”

“Good,” Callum said quietly. “Let her think we are coming for a fight. She’ll make mistakes.”

Kaitlyn turned to him. “And what exactly are we coming for?”

He didn’t look at her. “Leverage.”

The elevator ride up was silent. When the doors opened, the boardroom buzzed with tension. Everyone was on edge.

At the head of the table, sat Reagen Drake, flawless in her grey suit.

“Kaitlyn,” she said smoothly. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

“I came,” Kaitlyn said, stepping forward, flanked by Vincent and Callum. “You called a meeting to erase me. I won't miss my own execution.”

A few board members shifted uneasily. Some of these people had worked for her father. They remembered the girl who used to sit in the corner during investor dinners, tracing patterns on the tablecloth while Robert Hart charmed the room. Now she stood at the center, and no one knew which side of history she'd fall on.

Reagen’s lips curved. “This isn’t personal. It is corporate hygiene. You made yourself toxic. The market will bleed if  your name trends.”

Kaitlyn’s lips curved. “Then maybe the market should ask who is cutting the wound.”

Reagen’s eyes narrowed. “You think your little broadcast changed anything? You weaponized stolen data.”

Kaitlyn held her ground. “If transparency kills me, maybe I was never meant to survive this company.”

Reagen leaned back. “You sound like your father, right before he lost his leverage. Shall we vote, gentlemen?”

She pressed a button. The digital board lit up, waiting for the votes to revoke Kaitlyn’s rights.

Moore’s voice whispered in her ear.

“Now.”

Kaitlyn pulled a small device from her coat and set it on the table. The screens changed. Financial records, hidden ledgers, and audio from Reagen’s encrypted files filled every monitor.

Reagen’s cold voice filled the room. “If we route it through the Cayman funnel, Blackthorn’s name stays clean. I don’t care who gets burned—Hart, Drake, whoever.”

Gasps spread around the table. A few directors froze with their hands over the voting pads.

Reagen snapped, “That recording is fake.”

Kaitlyn stayed calm. “Then you won’t mind if we stream it live to the press feed Moore set up downstairs.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Reagen hissed.

Kaitlyn met her stare. “You framed me with forged files. You drained my family’s accounts. You turned this board into your puppets.”

Reagen rose, anger barely controlled. “You don’t know what you are doing. I built this long before your name mattered.”

“And that is the problem,” Kaitlyn said quietly. “You built it on ghosts.”

The doors opened. Callum Drake walked in—wet from the rain, serious, and instantly a force in the room. The murmurs stopped instantly.

He walked to Kaitlyn’s side without a word. Every executive in the room knew who he was… the man behind Blackthorn, the name whispered when people wanted to describe power without restraint.

“Mr Drake, this is private,” Reagen said.

Callum replied. “No, it is not. You brought Blackthorn into it when you used my name to legitimize your laundering network. I’m simply reclaiming what is mine.”

Reagen’s composure filtered before she masked it with her usual poise. Even she knew that Callum Drake did not bluff.

A senior partner named Theodore, cleared his throat. “I move to suspend the vote pending investigation.”

Others agreed. Within minutes the motion passed.

Reagen sat down, her expression cold. “This isn’t over,” she said.

Kaitlyn held her stare. “No. It is finally fair.”

When the meeting adjourned, the corridor outside buzzed with murmured panic. Reporters were already gathering downstairs, hungry for whatever headline would break first.

Kaitlyn’s hands shook a little as she waited for the elevator. Callum stood beside her. “You did well,” he said.

“So did you,” she answered.

Vincent approached, phone in hand. “Press lines say Reagen’s team is claiming the recordings were planted by Blackthorn to coerce the board.”

“Of course she is,” Kaitlyn said.

“We have to stay ahead. Every lie she spreads, we counter it first.”

Kaitlyn nodded. As they stepped into the elevator, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirrored doors—no longer the girl chasing answers, but the woman forcing the world to look at the truth.

The elevator doors closed.

Above them, Reagen Drake stood alone in the boardroom. Her reflection was calm and calculating again.

And as the lightning struck over RavenPort, she smiled faintly to herself.

Because she already knew how to make them bleed next.