"Duke, you know I never wanted any of this. How can she say such things about me..."
Duke's expression turned thunderous. "Gertrude, don't push your luck!"
"Fine—I'll pay back every cent from back then, with bank interest," he snarled. "But stop acting so high and mighty, like I've been freeloading off you all these years."
His finger jabbed in my direction. "Keep humiliating Stacy, and I swear I'll throw you out with nothing. You'll be sweeping streets for a living."
I couldn't help but laugh.
Playing the victim while standing on a pedestal of lies. She thought scrubbing her past clean would erase what she'd done. And him—the audacity of a man who'd built his throne on my fortune, now threatening to cast me out.
Thirty years. EmpireStar Group was no longer the modest startup I'd funded with a few hundred million. Through our combined efforts—my efforts—it had grown into a multi-billion-dollar empire. And now he had the shamelessness to offer me back my "original investment"?
I picked up the microphone from the table. My voice, laced with mockery, echoed through the conference room.
"Duke, let me show you what 'pushing your luck' actually looks like."