In front of nearly a hundred relatives, my mother-in-law slid the dinner plates away from my daughters and declared, “Seats at the head table are reserved for women who give this family sons.” My husband told me to quit causing a scene, so I calmly cleaned my little girl's face, gathered both of my daughters, and walked out without another word… while no one in that room had the slightest idea that a 5.4-million-peso promissory note carrying his signature was already waiting for the perfect moment to surface.

The red loading bar crawled across my screen like a bleeding wound.

Andrew was attempting to access my company's restricted financial servers.

"David, cut the hardlines to the external servers immediately!" I shouted into the intercom.

My security team killed the power to the external network, stopping the breach at ninety percent.

Andrew had figured out that I was the true owner of Vance & Horizon Capital.

He had likely hired hackers to breach my firewall using old passwords he found on my home devices.

I needed to end this game before he caused irreparable damage to my empire.

The next morning, I received an urgent notification from my board of directors.

An emergency hostile takeover meeting had been scheduled at our downtown headquarters.

I put on a perfectly tailored designer suit and drove to the office in silence.

When I walked into the glass-walled boardroom, the room was already full.

Andrew was sitting at the head of the massive mahogany table, flanked by his two brothers and Patricia.

They all wore matching expressions of extreme arrogance.

My board members looked confused and deeply concerned.

"What is the meaning of this unauthorized meeting?" I asked, stepping up to the table.

Andrew leaned back in my leather executive chair and smirked.

"It means you are fired, Lauren," Andrew declared confidently.

Patricia clapped her hands together in delight.

"I always knew you were hiding money from us, you greedy little snake," Patricia hissed.

Andrew slammed a thick legal document onto the table.

"This is a marital asset claim, proving that I am entitled to fifty percent of everything you own," Andrew announced.

He pointed a finger directly at my face.

"And since I hold the controlling fifty percent, I am voting to remove you as CEO effective immediately."

My board members began to murmur amongst themselves, clearly panicked by the hostile takeover.

I calmly picked up the document and scanned the first page.

It looked legitimate, bearing the seal of a federal judge.

"You cannot just take my company," I stated, keeping my voice perfectly even.

Andrew smiled a wicked, triumphant smile.

"I already did," he sneered.

Then, the boardroom doors opened, and my trusted attorney, Marcus, walked in.

When my newborn 'passed away,' my mother-in-law leaned in and said

My Husband Left Me Alone in My Car While I Was in Labor

“You’re Dead When We Get Home,” He Snapped

Marcus walked straight past me and stood directly beside Andrew.

"The documents are fully verified, gentlemen," Marcus announced to the board.

Chapter 6 - The Boardroom Ambush