The CEO's Regret: You made me your lie, I become your Loss-Chapter 104: He is also a Creed

The morning of the board meeting arrived with a heavy, oppressive heat that seemed to seep through the tinted glass of the Pedro Corporation headquarters.

Amara stood in front of the full-length mirror in her dressing room, her fingers trembling as she smoothed the fabric of her tailored black suit.

The gold anklet Julian had given her in the boat, a relic of a life that felt a century old, clinked softly against her skin, a hidden weight of a happier time.

Julian was behind her, his reflection a sharp, dark contrast to her paleness. He reached out, his large hands grounding her as they rested on her shoulders.

"You don’t have to do this alone," he murmured, his voice a low, protective vibration. "I’ve cleared my schedule. I’ll be in the observer’s seat. If he so much as breathes in your direction, I’m ending the meeting."

The boardroom was a temple of mahogany and leather, smelling of expensive coffee and old secrets. The air was frigid, the air conditioning humming a low, mechanical dirge. As Amara entered, the directors’ men who had served her mother for decades rose in a wave of somber respect.

Then, there was Silas.

He was already seated at the far end of the long table, his silver vintage car parked visibly in the lot below. He didn’t rise. He simply tapped a gold fountain pen against a leather folder, his eyes tracking Amara with a predator’s patience.

Silas had placed his folder directly in the seat usually reserved for the Vice Chair, her mother’s old position.

The lead solicitor cleared his throat, the sound echoing in the tense silence. "We are here to confirm the interim leadership of the Pedro Corporation. Under the bylaws, the Chairmanship passes to the primary heir, provided there is a majority board consensus."

"Which brings us to the matter of the ten percent," Silas interrupted, his voice a smooth, cultured baritone that cut through the room. He slid the yellowed document across the table. "A debt from 2011. Authenticated by the central registry this morning."

Amara felt the blood drain from her face. She looked at the directors, men she had known since she was a child. Some looked away; others looked at Silas with a newfound, terrified interest.

"This is a family company," Amara said, her voice small but gaining a sharp, jagged edge as she leaned forward. "My father would never have signed away the legacy."

"Your father was a man of many layers, Amara," Silas smiled, the curve of his lips joyless. "And I am simply here to ensure those layers are... respected. I move that the Chairmanship be stayed until a full audit of the 2011 expansion is completed. Until then, the board remains in a deadlock."

Julian stood up from the observer’s gallery, the sound of his chair scraping the floor like a gunshot. He walked to the table, leaning over it until he was inches from Silas’s face.

"The audit will happen," Julian stated, his voice a low, lethal promise. "But Amara remains the head of this company. If you want to play at being a shareholder, Silas, you’ll do it from the back of the room. This isn’t a debt collection; it’s a coronation."

Amara looked at her husband, the slow-burning love of their honeymoon now forged into a steel-hard alliance. She sat down in her mother’s chair, the leather cool and unforgiving against her back.

The boardroom doors hadn’t even fully clicked shut before the professional facade of the meeting disintegrated. The mahogany-lined hallway felt like a pressurized chamber, the air crackling with the static of Julian’s rising fury.

He didn’t wait for Silas to reach the elevators. Julian stepped into his path, his large frame casting a long, imposing shadow over the smaller man. The composure Julian usually maintained was gone, replaced by a cold, clinical aggression.

"You’ve played your hand, Silas," Julian began, his voice a low, lethal vibration that made a passing secretary quicken her pace. "But you neglected to mention one very specific detail on your filing this morning. Your full legal name."

Silas adjusted his charcoal cufflink, a thin, joyless smile touching his lips. "Names are merely labels, Julian. It’s the signatures on the deeds that matter."

"Not when the label is Creed," Julian spat, the name hitting the air like a curse.

Julian stepped closer, his hand flat against the wall beside Silas’s head, pinning him in place. "Tell me. What is your relationship to Sebastian Creed?"

Amara, who had been trailing behind, froze. The name Sebastian sent a jagged shard of ice through her chest. Her ex-fake husband had been a Chapter of her life she had fought to bury, a marriage built on lies and Sebastian’s crazy obsession. Her mind drifted back to the island.

"Sebastian is my nephew," Silas said, his voice dropping into a smooth, dark purr. "A boy with expensive tastes and very little foresight. He lost almost his life because of your wife, didn’t he? I’m simply here for... business that has nothing to do with him."

"Business?" Julian’s laugh was a harsh, jagged sound. "You’re using a fifteen-year-old debt from a deceased man to harass a woman in mourning because your nephew is crazy?"

Julian’s grip on the wall tightened, the wood groaning under the pressure. The protective husband who had spent the honeymoon worshiping Amara was gone; in his place stood the man who had built the Vale empire a man who knew exactly how to destroy a predator. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Listen to me very carefully, Creed," Julian whispered, his face inches from Silas’s. "If you think you can use Amara’s grief as a doorway to this company, you’ve miscalculated. I don’t care what paper you’re holding. Tell Sebastian if this is one of his crazy ways to hurt my wife, I’ll be coming for him myself."

Silas didn’t flinch, but the predatory glint in his eyes flickered. "The heart is a fragile thing, Julian. Sometimes it breaks under the weight of secrets. Perhaps you need to know where you stand in your wife’s heart before you threaten a shareholder."