Chapter 5 - The Empress On The Screen
The silence inside the Siqueira boardroom was so absolute you could hear the erratic rhythm of Rodrigo’s ragged breathing. Marcela instinctively stepped behind him, shrinking away from the icy authority radiating from the woman she had mocked only twelve hours earlier.
Lourdes pushed her way to the front of the conference table, glaring into the camera lens with venomous fury.
“Helena Bennett!” Lourdes shrieked, leaning over the table, her manicured fingers trembling with rage. “You ungrateful, deceitful snake! Turn those computer systems back on this instant! How dare you jeopardize our municipal contracts! We gave you a home! We allowed you into our social circle! We treated you like family for seven years!”
On the screen, Helena didn't even blink. Her expression remained completely serene, a faint, razor-sharp smile touching her lips.
“You treated me like an unpaid technical servant, Lourdes,” Helena replied, her voice smooth and entirely devoid of anger. “For seven years, you told everyone at your country club that my engineering firm was merely a cute little hobby. You told our relatives that Rodrigo was the genius who modernized Siqueira Engineering. You took credit for my algorithmic patents while spending my licensing revenues on Marcela’s jewelry and Rodrigo’s sports cars.”
“Helena, please,” Rodrigo interrupted, stepping in front of his mother, his voice cracking with desperate submission. He leaned close to the microphone, his hands resting flat against the mahogany table in an attitude that was unmistakably submissive. “We can talk about this. We don’t have to destroy the family business over a personal dispute! I know you’re hurt about Marcela. I know you’re angry about the bracelet. But this is business, Helena! Four hundred men on the docks will lose their jobs if that concrete cures in the trucks!”
“Then I suggest you instruct your men to wash out the drums before the concrete sets, Rodrigo,” Helena answered coolly. “Because my servers will not be reconnecting to your network today.”
“Helena!” Rodrigo pleaded, tears of pure terror welling in his eyes. “The city will call our fifty-million-dollar performance bond! The bank will freeze our operating payroll! My family will be ruined by sunset!”
Camila leaned forward into the camera frame, sliding a crisp, single-page document in front of her.
“Mr. Siqueira, Mrs. Siqueira, let us be entirely precise about your legal reality,” Camila said, her tone clinical and cutting. “Nexis Solutions has formally filed an emergency intellectual property protection injunction with the Federal District Court. At this moment, federal marshals are serving notices to every municipal site in the state. Siqueira Engineering is prohibited from utilizing any system, software, or technical blueprint containing Nexis code.”
“What do you want, Helena?” Rodrigo whispered, his shoulders slumping completely as he stared at his ex-wife through the screen. “Just name your price. Ten million? Twenty million? I’ll give you whatever you want from the profits!”
May you like
Helena tilted her head slightly, her gaze piercing through the digital connection straight into his soul.
“I told you last night in the hotel suite, Rodrigo,” Helena said, each word sounding like a heavy gavel striking an iron anvil. “I don’t want your money. I don’t want your houses. I don’t want your cars. What I want is a full, unconditional restructuring of Siqueira Engineering. And if you want your systems turned back on before the city cancels your contract at two o’clock, you will sign over sixty percent of your corporate equity directly to Nexis Solutions by noon.”
