Chapter 2

By the time I returned to my office to pack my things, the elders were already waiting for me at the door.

Jack tossed a tablet onto my desk.

"Give me all the files for the North Sea route, especially the customs contacts and the steps for getting inspections waived."

James spoke up next. "The Swiss bank credit lines have to be handed over as well. I want every manager's private number, every renewal date, and all the guarantee documents. Don't leave anything out."

Bruno acted as if his demand was completely reasonable.

"Those union people only take your calls. Write down what they really want and anything we can use against them. You can't just leave and dump this mess on us, right?"

I looked up at them.

"Didn't you say you were the ones doing all the work and that I was just taking the credit?"

Jack's face stiffened for a moment, but he quickly became defensive again.

"Work is work. You handled these things for seven years. Of course you need to hand everything over properly."

I opened the archive I had prepared long ago.

It contained 4,186 pages, divided into five folders: the port, finances, the union, intelligence, and family negotiations.

Jack received 1,200 pages of port risk records.

James got more than 800 pages on bank credit lines and family accounts.

Bruno got 700 pages covering union agreements, injury payments, and staffing.

Luca received more than 600 pages of intelligence checks.

Every page showed work they had once pushed onto me.

One by one, my tablet showed that the files had been delivered.

But their faces quickly fell.

Instead of taking the files that belonged to them, they started fighting over the parts that could make them the most money.

Jack wanted the profits from the port but pushed the customs paperwork and safety checks onto Vivian.

James only wanted to speak to the bank managers who could give him money. He pushed all the risk checks onto his subordinates.

Bruno took the union staff lists but left all the injury agreements untouched on my desk.

Luca was no different. He copied only the information that had already been confirmed and ignored all 600 pages of records showing how I had checked it.

They accused me of stealing their credit. Yet the moment they had to do the actual work, they grabbed the benefits and tried to leave the problems behind.

"Who has time to read all this?" Jack was the first to lose his temper.

James flipped through a few pages and closed the tablet in irritation. "It's just a bank credit line renewal. Why would we need hundreds of pages?"

Bruno sneered too. "You turn simple jobs into huge problems just to make everyone think they need you. Emily, we can all see what you're doing."

Luca finally looked up at me.

"All these years, you insisted on verifying all my intel. Now I know why. You wanted to take credit for my work."

I stared at him silently for a long time.

Seven years ago, he had given us the wrong escape route. Three of our men walked straight into an ambush because of his mistake.

I was the one who went into the gunfire and brought them back. Afterward, I kept Luca's mistake a secret from Enzo.

From that day on, I checked every piece of information Luca gave me.

And now he saw even that as proof that I had stolen his credit.

Just then, Vivian Cavina, Jack's daughter, entered the office, her heels clicking across the floor.

The council had just made her its new secretary.

"It's just a few files, isn't it?"

She looked through the folders and gave me a mocking smile.

"Emily did all of this by herself. Are you telling me all of us can't handle it together?"

Jack immediately regained his confidence.

"Exactly. She's just trying to scare us with a mountain of paperwork."

Enzo walked in too and placed a North Sea freight agreement in front of Vivian.

He saw the risk files everyone had ignored and simply assumed that, as always, I would take care of them in the end.

"Emily is only leaving the council. She isn't leaving the family.

"If something really goes wrong, she won't just stand there and watch us suffer the losses."

His words immediately put everyone at ease.

They dared to kick me off the council, not because they could replace me.

They did it because they were sure that no matter how badly they treated me, I would always step in and save them when things went wrong.

"You and Jack will handle this shipment. There's ten million dollars in profit. Do a good job, and I'll recommend you for a permanent seat on the council."

Vivian's eyes lit up.

It was the very deal I had spent six months working on.

She flipped to the last page, saw that the agreement still hadn't been signed, and gave me a mocking look.

"Six months of work, and you still couldn't close the deal. I guess the Donna isn't as capable as everyone says."

I pulled out the red risk page from the middle of the file.

"This route was just placed on the priority inspection list. The shipment contains controlled chemicals, so the customs codes need to be checked again.

"The port union still hasn't agreed to the hazard pay, and our bank guarantee runs out at midnight.

"Until all three problems are fixed, this shipment isn't going anywhere."

Jack barely looked at the page before tossing it into the trash.

"Spare us the scare tactics.

"The customs director is an old friend of mine. Those union workers are broke and depend on us for their wages. And no bank is going to turn against us because of a few pieces of paperwork."

Vivian signed her name on the last page of the agreement in front of me.

"Leave the rest to me. Give me two days, and that shipment will be out of the port."

I picked up my box and walked away quietly.

I had planned to spend the next two days dealing with the cargo inspection, renewing the bank guarantee, and reaching a deal with the union over hazard pay.

Now those problems had nothing to do with me.

What they had taken from me wasn't simply a deal worth ten million dollars.

They had also taken on three serious risks. If even one went wrong, the family could go bankrupt.