She took one deliberate step closer to the head of the table.
“For the last ninety days, Dad, every paycheck you deposited, every expense report you submitted, every memo you signed… you were working for me. I was your ultimate superior. And I let you keep working without saying a word, just so you could sit at this table today and tell me who built this family.”
Franklin stood up so fast his heavy wooden chair crashed backward into the grass. “You… you little snake! You went behind my back? You bought my company to humiliate me?!”
“I didn’t buy Mountain Tech to humiliate you, Franklin,” Maris said, using his first name for the first time in her life. The word fell like a heavy stone into the grass between them. “I bought it because it was a sound acquisition for my platform. You just happened to be on the payroll. And as of eight o’clock tomorrow morning, Mountain Tech Solutions will cease independent operations. Its assets will be folded into Helix Frame.”
