Chapter 4

Camille's POV

"Using the CEO seat to threaten me?" I hold his gaze without backing down. "Fine. Since you care about it so much, I'll spell it out for you. Today, as long as I'm still Camille Merritt at this company, nobody is going to make my brother bow his head."

"You!" Garrett shakes with fury.

Ashley sees this and immediately breaks into tears. "Please don't blame Camille, this is all my fault. I shouldn't have caught anyone's eye, shouldn't have given Sullivan those kinds of thoughts. I don't want any settlement money, I just want one apology from him... just one apology, and I'll quit right away, you'll never see me at Merritt again..."

"You hear that?" Garrett jabs a finger at us, furious. "That girl's already backed down this far, and you two still want to push her over the edge? Camille, I'm ordering you, make him apologize right now and call off the police!"

I look at Garrett, my voice cold. "You'd ruin your own son for a stranger?"

"Who said anything about ruining him? I'm saving him! I'm saving this whole company!" Garrett is beyond furious. "He apologizes, this whole thing is over. If you don't make him apologize, are you going to wait until the cops drag him away and let the whole world know the Merritt heir's a rapist?"

Wayne jumps in right away. "That's right, the chairman's got a point. Let's handle this in-house, keep it from blowing up. I already checked with security, the break room cameras have been down for a week. There's no way to prove anything either way. If this actually goes to the police, Sullivan's the one who loses."

The cameras are down?

I hear that and something in me sneers.

Same thing happened in my last life. The break room cameras mysteriously stopped working and nobody ever fixed them. No footage anywhere to prove Sullivan's innocence.

All Ashley needed was a torn shirt and some scratches on her skin, and she turned herself into the perfect victim.

"You hear that? The cameras are down!" Garrett barks. "No evidence, so how are you going to prove he didn't do it? The board's already calling me. They want Sullivan suspended right now, and they want an explanation from you."

Garrett's phone rings, right on cue. He answers and puts it on speaker.

A few of the board's senior members come through, voices sharp. "Garrett, the backlash online is already picking up steam. Doesn't matter what actually happened, Sullivan needs to own up to it now to calm things down. If Camille can't handle this, maybe she shouldn't be CEO. Let Wayne step in."

Garrett looks at me, his eyes full of warning and pressure.

"You heard them. That's the board's call. Either you get him to sign this apology statement right now, or you hand over the CEO title."

Wayne immediately pulls a document out of his briefcase, one he clearly had ready beforehand, and holds it out to me along with a pen.

The corner of Ashley's mouth lifts slightly, like she's already picturing me caving.

Everyone's coming at me.

My own father. The company's executives. The board. Everyone standing around watching.

Sullivan's face turns gray, his eyes full of despair and guilt. He slowly reaches out for the pen.

"Camille... let me sign it. I can't drag you down with me..."

I slap the pen right out of Wayne's hand, grab the apology letter, and hurl it straight at Garrett's face.

Dead silence.

Garrett's stunned for a second, eyes wide, then his hand flies up like he's going to hit me.

I don't even flinch. I just stare at him, cold. "Try it. If you so much as touch a hair on my head today, I promise you Merritt will be all over the financial headlines tomorrow for the chairman assaulting his own CEO."

Garrett's hand freezes in midair. He's shaking with rage, but he doesn't dare bring it down.

I let out a cold scoff and walk toward Ashley, step by step. "You think you can use the board to shut me up?"

"You think with the cameras down, you can twist the truth however you want and play us all for fools?"

Ashley's face goes white, and she flinches back in fear. "You... what are you talking about..."

"Wayne." I turn to look at him, still standing there frozen. "You just said the cameras have been down for a week, right?"

He swallows hard. "Yeah... yeah, that's what security told me."

"Well, that's unfortunate for you." I let out a cold laugh. "Last week, I personally donated a hidden security system worth three hundred thousand dollars to this company. And the break room happens to be one of the first places they installed it."

The room breaks into stunned murmurs.

Ashley's eyes go wide, all the strength draining out of her at once.

Something flickers across Garrett's face, a flash of panic.

I watch it all happen and say, cold and flat, "Get someone to pull up every second of hidden camera footage from the break room, starting ten minutes ago. Put it on the screen."