The moment I saw what was unfolding before me, everything clicked into place.

Terry's appearance was no coincidence. He wanted to replace me and take over the company.

He just hadn't found the right opportunity before now.

My conflict with Beulah had played right into his hands, giving him the excuse he'd been waiting for.

"Olive, I've discussed this with the shareholders. The way things stand, you're no longer fit to remain at this company."

I watched him in silence. I didn't respond.

"Your vision and your horizons are limited to this. You simply don't have the capability to take us to the top. And frankly, neither does your background.

"If this company is going to grow, you need to leave."

My hands curled into fists at my sides.

"Because my education isn't as impressive as yours?"

"Exactly."

Terry's answer came without a shred of hesitation.

"You're a dropout who never even finished college. You have no business sitting in the chairman's seat."

I was floored.

If you looked at the Forbes list, how many of those titans had Ivy League degrees? These people had a few years of college under their belts and thought that made them gods. It was laughable.

"So you're telling me to leave."

Terry's lips curled into a sneer. "Yes."

I was so furious I almost laughed.

"Then I'm curious about your judgment back then. If you think so little of my education, why did you agree to be with me in the first place?"

My words struck a nerve. His expression darkened instantly.

"You think I wanted to marry you? If it weren't for my father, I would've called off this engagement a long time ago."

The moment those words left his mouth, Beulah practically leapt with excitement.

"That's wonderful, Terry! You should've cut ties with this illiterate nobody ages ago."

"Everyone always wondered how a man of your status ended up with some country bumpkin. I felt sorry for you even then."

"Some backwater hick has no business standing next to someone as accomplished as you!"

The shareholders chimed in one after another, raising their hands in support of Terry taking over the company.

"Olive, to be honest, we've never respected where you come from."

"The company keeps growing, and we don't want your background becoming a liability. Something people whisper about over drinks."

With everyone rallying behind her, Beulah's boldness swelled.

I had just pulled a slim cigarette from my case and was about to light it when she snatched it right out of my hand.

"Oh, a high-end brand?" She scoffed. "You think smoking expensive cigarettes makes you somebody?"

She stuck the cigarette she'd taken from me between her own lips, perched herself on the edge of the table right in front of me, and lit it with a smirk. She took a long drag.

Then, with all the arrogance in the world, she blew the smoke directly into my face.

"Why are you still sitting there like an idiot? Hurry up and—"

"Get up!"

She swung her foot and kicked my chair hard.

I looked up at her, my voice cold as ice.

"Last month, when I was away on a business trip, someone else was stupid enough to kick my chair."

"Do you know what happened to her leg?"

My warning didn't faze Beulah. If anything, it made her worse.

"Who do you think you are, Olive? You actually dare threaten me?"

"I'll kick your chair as many times as I damn well please. What are you going to do about it?"

As she lifted her other foot to kick again, I spun the steel pen in my hand and drove it straight into her thigh.

A piercing scream tore through the conference room. Every person in the room sucked in a sharp breath.

"Secretary Finch, you brought this on yourself."

The moment he saw his precious secretary hurt, Terry snapped.

He stormed toward me, his heavy leather shoes hammering the floor with every furious stride.

I caught his raised right hand in a vice grip and spoke, each word deliberate and razor-sharp. "Terry Gilbert. The only reason I ever tolerated your nonsense—let you parade around and act out in front of me—was never because I was afraid of you. It was because you were my fiancé."

"But now that you've decided to end our engagement, I don't have to indulge you anymore."

I wrenched his arm and hurled him sideways.

He crashed to the floor beside Beulah, staring up at me with wide, disbelieving eyes. He clearly hadn't expected someone he thought of as fragile to have that kind of explosive strength.

While the two of them sat there stunned, I turned to face the shareholders gathered around the conference table.

"You all love calling me an uneducated nobody who built something from nothing. You think I'm dead weight, that I'm useless." I let my gaze sweep across every single one of them. "But it seems you've forgotten something."

"When this company was still in its infancy, a rival targeted us and seized an entire shipment at the port."

"Everyone said Olive Henson was finished. But I have never accepted that kind of fate."

"I took a knife, went to that dock alone, and fought to get that shipment back. I risked my life to save this company."

"I have weathered storms you people can't even imagine. You really think a school of bottom-feeders like you is going to sink me?"

Terry clenched his fists, teeth grinding as he glared at me.

"Olive, that's ancient history. It doesn't mean anything now."

"Asking you to leave the company isn't just my opinion. It's all of ours."

He rose to his feet, slow and deliberate, and swept his gaze across the shareholders.

"Isn't that right?"

With Terry backing them up, they found their courage.

"That's right!"

The answer came in unison, loud and resolute—a declaration that they intended to band together and force me out.

Beulah gritted her teeth and hauled herself upright, leaning against Terry for support.

"Olive, this company answers to us now!"

I didn't get angry. I just smiled at her.

Terry and these shareholders wouldn't have dared to make a move against me unless they had another card to play.

Sure enough, I was right.

Terry reached into his bag and produced a contract, holding it out in front of me.

"Honestly, I never wanted to destroy you completely. You were my fiancée, after all."

"I was going to let you sell your shares, take the money, and walk away quietly. But you just had to be ungrateful. You had to fight me at every turn."

"This mess you're in right now? You brought it on yourself."

I arched a brow, my eyes locked on his.

"What exactly are you getting at, Terry?"

"What am I getting at?" He barked out a laugh. "I'm telling you to get lost!"

He flipped the contract open and let out a triumphant laugh.

"Olive, open those eyes of yours and read carefully. This is a share-transfer agreement—signed by your own hand."

My mind went blank.

"This contract... I don't remember signing anything like this."

Terry's lips curled into a cold sneer.

"Olive, do you remember the night of my birthday?"

"During the party games, I blindfolded you and told you it was paperwork for a house we were buying together. Said I just needed your signature for the registration."

A chill crawled down my spine. A wave of pure, blinding hatred crashed through me.

So that was why they had the nerve to turn on me. They'd had this ace up their sleeve the entire time.

In that moment, my fury reached its breaking point.

"Terry Gilbert. Do you have any idea that you're playing with fire?"

He met my rage with nothing but contempt.

"Playing with fire?" He scoffed. "You're the one who doesn't know her place."

"You really think the eldest son of the Gilbert Group—me—would ever actually want someone like you?"

"The only reason I ever played nice with you was because you were useful."

I let out a quiet sigh, then pulled out my phone in front of everyone, my tone leaving no room for argument.

"Within ten minutes, I want to see Gilbert Group bankrupt."

The moment the words left my mouth, Terry swept his arm through the air, and a dozen security guards closed in around me.

"Hold on." I raised my hand, utterly unbothered, and let out a cold laugh. "If Mr. Gilbert is so confident, why not wait and see?"

The guards exchanged uneasy glances. Not one of them stepped forward.

As the minutes ticked by, Terry grew impatient. "What are you all standing around for?" he snapped. "Don't tell me you actually believe this worthless woman."

The words had barely left his lips when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Terry glanced at the caller ID, hesitated for a few seconds, then answered.

The voice on the other end roared so loud it filled the entire conference room.

"Terry, you ungrateful bastard, who the hell did you piss off?"

"Our stock is being bought out at a manic pace!"