Chapter 4 - The True Pedigree
Dominic stood frozen in the center of the room. The air in his lungs seemed to solidify into concrete. His mind spun in wild, frantic circles, trying to connect the dots that had been staring him in the face for two years.
Charles Brooks.
The name wasn't just a corporate title; it was an institution. Half the shipping containers entering the Port of New York bore the Brooks Global crest. The tower they were currently standing in was Brooks property. The very foundation of the city’s commercial elite had Charles Brooks’s name etched into its cornerstones.
“No...” Dominic whispered, his knees trembling violently beneath him. “No, that’s... that’s impossible. Audrey told me... she said her father was a retired contractor from Syracuse. She drove a four-year-old hatchback when I met her. She clipped coupons. She lived in a studio apartment with secondhand furniture!”
“She did that because she wanted to find a man who loved her for who she was, you pathetic fool,” Charles said, taking one deliberate step forward. Dominic flinched, instinctively cowering backward against the conference chair. “She wanted a husband who would value her loyalty, her intelligence, and her kindness. She wanted someone who wouldn't look at her as a shortcut to wealth.”
Charles picked up a manila folder from the table and tossed it against Dominic’s chest. The papers fluttered downward, scattering across the carpet.
“Instead,” Charles continued, his voice dripping with disgust, “she found an arrogant, hollow coward who took her car, spent her allowance, and treated her like a servant the moment he smelled a hint of success. You thought Apex Capital invested twenty-five million dollars into your pathetic supply-chain code because of your brilliance?”
Charles let out a dark, booming laugh that echoed off the glass walls.
“Your code is mediocre at best, Dominic. Three junior engineers at Columbia could have written it in a weekend. We funded NexaCore because Audrey sat in my office six months ago and begged me to give you a chance. She believed in your dreams. She swallowed her pride, came to her father, and asked me to support the man she loved so he would feel successful and proud.”
Dominic dropped to his knees, his hands scrambling across the carpet, clutching at the scattered documents. They were internal memorandums, wire authorizations, and shareholder allocations—all bearing the signature of Audrey Brooks as the ultimate beneficiary and governing controller of Apex Capital’s technology fund.
“Audrey...” Dominic sobbed, tears finally breaking through his shock, streaming down his cheeks and dripping onto the papers. “Audrey owned the fund? She... she owned NexaCore all along?”
“She did,” Charles answered coldly. “Until three o’clock this afternoon, when she signed the divestment decree. Apex Capital has executed its complete recall of all operational liquidity. Under the debt covenants you signed without reading, every line of code, every patent, every server rack, and every corporate account owned by NexaCore is now property of Brooks Global to settle outstanding creditor liabilities. You have zero equity. You have zero intellectual property. And by tomorrow morning, you will be forty-eight million dollars in personal unsecured debt to our corporate recovery division.”
“Mr. Brooks! Please!” Dominic wept, crawling forward on his knees until he was inches from my father’s polished Italian leather shoes. “Please, forgive me! I made a mistake! I was stressed! My mother was pressuring me, Natalie was demanding money, I didn't mean to leave her! I love Audrey! She’s the mother of my son! Let me see her! Let me apologize to her!”
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Charles looked down at the weeping man with unyielding contempt. He didn't raise his voice; he didn't strike him. He simply stepped to the side, allowing two armed security officers to lift Dominic by his armpits, hauling him to his feet like a sack of damp laundry.
“You do not say my daughter’s name with those filthy lips,” Charles whispered. “And as for my grandson... you gave up the right to look at his face the second you handed his mother five dollars for a bus.”
