Chapter 85

Daniel’s POV

The cold air in the boardroom was thick, heavy with the weight of my father’s gaze.

I stood there, stunned into a painful silence, my eyes locked on the two people I never expected to see united.

My entire body felt like lead, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs, a desperate drumbeat of betrayal.

Claire Hammond, with her predatory smile, and my own father, Richard Walter, sat at the head of the table—a table of my worst nightmares come to life.

The room, filled with the board members I had trusted, seemed to blur into a sea of cold, calculating judgment.

Claire broke the suffocating silence, her voice a sharp, triumphant sound that sliced through the tension. “Welcome, Daniel,” she purred, her eyes glittering with victory. “Please, have a seat. I’m afraid you’ve missed the most important part of the discussion. We were just about to put the merger to a vote.”

I ignored her, my gaze fixed on my father. He lo