SIX

Florence's POV

“We both have proof,” I whispered in disbelief. My head was spinning in circles and I couldn't help but clutch it to steady myself.

Anthony nodded slowly, but his gaze didn’t waver. “So… which one is real?”

The air between us felt like glass, thin and fragile, ready to shatter with any wrong move we made. My pulse roared in my ears, and the edges of my vision buzzed, was I going insane.

“You’re lying,” I said, my voice shaking more from disbelief than anger. I refused to believe his words and played into his game. If he really was telling the truth then what sort of sick game was fate trying to play against me. “You’re trying to confuse me. Twist my head around until I can’t tell what’s real anymore.”

His jaw tightened. “Miss Davidson..”

“No!” I slammed my palm on the desk in frustration. “You think I’m stupid? You think I’ll just believe some neatly typed death certificate because you put it in front of me? My brother is alive and well, he has been unlawfully locked up in a country that we don't know and can't access. I have spent five years living with that truth, keeping my mother and my entire heart alive with that truth. Don’t stand there and tell me I imagined it all. He isn't dead.”

Anthony’s voice stayed maddeningly calm and indifferent . His eyes were steady and looked like this matter didn't shake him. Like it was so insignificant and it made my blood boil. “I don’t have the time or the interest to hide your brother, Florence. I run a multinational corporation. I don’t orchestrate personal vendettas against people I’ve never met before.”

I let out a bitter laugh that scraped my throat raw. “Of course you do. You wanted our company, you wanted the prestige. All you had to do was destroy us to get it. And you decided to target my brother who was the heart of the company. Once you did that everything else fell into place for you."

His eyes hardened to steel. “If I wanted your company for myself, I could have taken it without pretense. But that’s not what happened.”

“Liar.” I spat, wanting to strangle him and see his indifferent expression change. Make him feel panic and fear, the same ones I felt and I still feel even after all these years.

Anthony’s movements were sharp and deliberate as he rose from behind the desk, crossed the room, and went to the far wall. He pressed his thumb to a small, black square I hadn’t noticed before. A quiet click echoed, and part of the wood panel slid open, revealing a narrow safe.

He keyed in a code, turned the handle, and pulled out a thick, cream-colored folder. He set it on the desk and opened it, flipping through until he stopped at a single sheet.

“This,” he said, sliding it toward me, “is from my files. I kept it because I don’t throw away originals when the deal involves corporate acquisition. It is usually in certain situations but I am glad I did so."

I glanced down. The document was printed in clean black ink.

"What is this?" I shifted away from the file.

"You have said your truth haven't you? And so I am showing you mine. The proof of my innocence against your structured bias against me."

"It's not bias, it's the truth."

"Your truth is highly flawed and you will know it when you look at the file." His voice hardened and he pushed the file closer.

I gulped and picked up the file opening it. It was a printed email.

From: Gabriel Davidson

To: [e-mail]

Subject: Urgent – Buyout Proposal

My heart stopped within seconds.

I scanned the first few lines a thousand times, the words tilting and blurring as if my eyes refused to accept them:

\ I am reaching out on behalf of Davidson & Co. with an urgent request for purchase of the remaining company shares. Given the financial strain and ongoing debt crisis, I believe it is in everyone’s interest to proceed quickly with the acquisition to salvage what is left. Please I will expect your positive response as I am badly in need at the moment.\

There was a signature at the bottom. Gabriel’s. His name, his style, the same little upward flick on the G that only he wrote.

“No,” I breathed, shaking my head dropping the file back on the table like it had physically burned me. “This isn’t right. This isn’t true at all. My brother would never do this.”

“It came directly to us,” Anthony said, watching me closely. “Your brother contacted my company first. He wanted us to buy the shares before the auction.”

"But you didn't. Your company came that day and won the highest bid. If he really came to you before then why didn't you take his offer immediately, why wait until you had a load of competitors." I probed, feeling his explanation weak.

"I do not understand what your understanding of business is but I do not venture into anything that comes easily " Easy means cheap and cheap means low quality. Your brother is not the first person to throw his company at me and he would not be the last. I would research and inquire and plan before I acquire a company just in case the company will bear me loss instead of profit."

I dragged my fingers over the paper as if touching it would make the truth seep into my skin. My stomach twisted. “He was trying to save the company,” I whispered, my throat tightening. “Not sell it. He...he went up and down the city for weeks, meeting investors, calling in favors. I watched him. When he found out it was being auctioned, he almost lost his mind. He was furious to the point we were scared he would do something horrible to himself or someone else. He said he’d never give it to the St. Louis family, not after what your company did to Dad’s deals in the past. You guys are practically our rivals so why would he come to you."

“Then explain this,” Anthony said. His tone wasn’t mocking or smug, it was… genuinely questioning. "Explain the multiple evidence I have that your brother came to me first."

I couldn’t defend him. I couldn't understand what was going on. It was like my entire world had crumpled once again.

I stared at the letter, at the timestamp that placed it barely a month before our downfall. It didn’t fit. Nothing fits anymore.

My head felt like it was splitting in two, one part clinging to the version of events I had built my revenge on, the other part being yanked toward something darker, stranger, and far more complicated.

For the first time since I’d walked into this office months ago, I wasn’t sure who the villain was.

Anthony leaned on the desk, his hands braced on either side of the folder. “You see the problem now, don’t you?”

I met his gaze, and it was like staring into a mirror that reflected my own confusion. “I see… that everything I thought I knew is starting to crumble.”

Anthony straightened up and walked closer to me. "And now that you understand what I said you need to leave."

"No!" I refused immediately, looking him square in the eye. "I am not going anywhere until this matter is resolved. My brother is alive and yet you say he's dead."

"The only reason I was able to acquire the company is because your brother was dead and has willingly given up his rights and all the shares to be auctioned. I had an upper hand due to the email. Nothing big or elaborate."

"It's like you are not understanding what is happening." I practically screamed at him. "All this information is not true, we both have two different versions of the story but the problem is still the same. You took away our company."

"I legally bought it."

"That's what you think but you didn't. I don't know who sent you all those messages but sure as hell it was not my brother." I insisted.

Anthony stared at me long and hard for twenty good seconds before letting out a frustrated sigh. "Miss Davidson, I do not have time for this, I have a meeting by 12pm, something I'm sure you already know of as you were the one handling my schedule."

"Are." I corrected him.

"Excuse me?"

"I am still the one handling your schedule."

"I sent you a termination letter."

"And I refuse to acknowledge it."

"On what grounds are you doing this?"

"On the grounds of unlawful termination of contract with no reason."

"Sexual and physical assault is a pretty good reason."

"Yes but then I'll expose all these complexities to the world."

"It won't affect me much."

"That's what you say now but from what I have gathered about you, you hate media drama no matter how powerful enough you are to sway it."

Anthony looked at me like I was the bane of his existence but I didn't care. I had a mission to fulfill and that was getting my brother back home.

"Stop staring at me sir, you have a meeting by 12pm and another with the Chinese ambassadors by 1:30pm. Let's get to it." I said before walking to my office door.

There was nowhere in hell that I would willingly leave this place. He would have to drag me out, while I tore his eardrums with my screams. Besides I doubt he is the type of man to get his hands dirty like that.