Christian let out a sharp, mocking laugh that echoed uncomfortably against the ceiling. "Ah, look at that. You finally found your voice," he taunted, throwing a smug wink toward Richard.

"Just answer the damn question," Richard repeated. His voice remained calm, but his knuckles were stark white where his fist was pressed flat against the table.

Christian stared directly back at him, the amusement instantly vanishing from his eyes. "You have absolutely no idea what I’m holding, or what you’re truly up against. And I will not answer a single question until my terms are met."

With a slow motion, he slid a folded piece of heavy paper from the inside pocket of his jacket.

A low buzz of anxious murmuring immediately rippled through the executives as they stared at the paper in his hand.

"The man has completely lost his mind," Henry scoffed, shaking his head in sheer disbelief.

Christian slowly scanned the panicked faces around the room. "I brought these terms because I thought you were smart enough to recognize a lifeline," he said, his voice dropping into a dark, deliberate cadence. "If you refuse to sign, you will find out exactly what else I have up my sleeve. And by the time I am finished, the proud Vance name will be known for nothing more than bankruptcy and scandals. That is a promise."

Terrified glances were exchanged across the table. At the far end, two members of the legal team began whispering furiously, scribbling hurried notes on their legal pads.

"You’re bluffing. And trust me, a pathetic bluff won’t buy you anything in this room," Nicholas sneered, trying to sound authoritative. "Why don’t you just cut the crap, tell us which traitor at this table handed you that video, and stop wasting our time?"

Christian pressed his fingertips to his forehead, closing his eyes as if Nicholas’s voice was giving him a physical headache. "Why don’t you just stop talking entirely?"

Roxanne watched Christian closely, noticing the subtle, frantic twitch in his jaw. The calculated mask he usually wore was beginning to fray at the edges.

Henry leaned forward, letting out a long, heavy sigh. "What else do you think you have over us, Christian?"

Christian chuckled softly. "Oh, come on, old man. You don’t honestly expect me to show my entire hand right now. I’m not that stupid." His smile vanished, his face hardening into an expression of pure malice. "But if I walk out of this villa today without my wife and without your signatures on those terms, you will find out soon enough. And trust me, that leaked video will be the absolute least of your worries."

The room plunged into a suffocating silence. If a pin had dropped onto the carpet, it would have sounded like a gunshot.

The executives stared back at him, their eyes darting back and forth as they desperately calculated their risk.

Christian didn’t waste another second. He stepped forward, tossed the paper onto the center of the table, and stepped back to smooth the lapels of his blazer. "Those are my demands. If they aren’t met, our next conversation will be through a media execution."

Richard’s jaw went completely rigid, the muscles ticking so violently it looked painful. Beneath the table, his grip on Roxanne’s hand tightened to a point that would have hurt if she weren’t so numb with adrenaline. Margaret, for the first time all afternoon, was dead silent, her sharp eyes scanning the room like a hawk analyzing a threat.

For a long beat, nobody moved. Everyone stared at the white sheet of paper as if it were a live bomb ready to detonate at the slightest touch.

Then, breaking the paralysis, Pamela snatched the document off the wood. Her eyes went wide as she scanned the lines. She looked up at Christian, then back down, her breath catching in her throat.

"A public apology from Richard Vance for attempting to steal my wife," Pamela read aloud, her voice cracking under the weight of the absurdity. "Roxanne must be immediately fired from the company and forced to return home with me and five hundred million dollars as a gratuity for my years of hard work."

"That is absolutely preposterous!" Nicholas shouted, slamming his hand down.

"He can’t possibly demand that! It’s extortion!" one of the older board members yelled, his face turning an angry shade of plum.

"Have you completely lost your sanity, Christian?" Pamela asked, staring at him in horror.

Christian’s face broke into a wide, bright smile. "I know, right? I wanted to make it incredibly easy for you to comply," he said smoothly. "I’m not a greedy man. I’m not asking for much. Just those three simple things, and the Vance family keeps its empire."

"You are completely deranged," Roxanne muttered under her breath, shaking her head in disgust.

"Yes! I am deranged!" Christian suddenly roared, his composure snapping as he lunged a step closer to the table. "And this is entirely your fault, Roxanne! Yours alone! And I will keep losing my mind until you come back home where you belong."

The terrifying rage in his eyes vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by a pathetic, desperate softness. He looked at her, his voice suddenly cracking. "Can’t you see that my life is a complete disaster without you? Why won’t you just come home to me?"

Nicholas eagerly seized the moment, turning to the rest of the board. "Why are we even debating this? Roxanne should be fired immediately! If handing her back to him ends this nightmare and saves the company, why aren’t we discussing it?" He looked around the table, practically begging for someone to back him up.

Roxanne’s heart took a violent leap into her throat, her pulse spiking into her ears. A wave of nausea hit her. The board members were terrified, and desperate people always looked for the easiest sacrifice.

Then, Richard leaned forward, his icy gaze settling heavily onto his brother. "And tell me, Nicholas. Do you also plan to personally hand him five hundred million dollars from our treasury just to buy his silence?" Richard’s tone was calm, but it dripped with a terrifying irony.

Nicholas scoffed defensively. "At a time like this, that is a small price to pay!"

"That explains why you are not president," Richard shot back calmly.

Nicholas shook his head. "I am certain there are several sensible people around this table who will agree with me. We fire her, we pay the man, and we bury the scandal forever. Why are we ignoring the obvious solution?"

"You’re forgetting one crucial detail, Nicholas," Christian interrupted, a smug smile spreading across his lips.

Nicholas nodded, completely missing the trap as he smirked at Richard. "Exactly. The real question is whether our proud president is willing to swallow his massive ego, apologize publicly to the man for trying to steal his wife, and actually save this company."