He could feel the gaze of his entire family on him.
He broke the seal.
He pulled out the folded paper.
It was on official company letterhead, signed by Mr. Miller—the CEO.
He read it.
His eyes moved quickly.
“Subject: Notice of Disciplinary Termination.
“Attention: Russell Preston, Director of Operations.
“Following the results of an internal audit and in consideration of a serious violation of ethics and immoral conduct that damages the company’s honor…”
Russell felt his heart shrink.
“With the issue date of this notification, the company officially notifies the termination of the employment relationship with Mr. Russell Preston by disciplinary dismissal.
“He is not entitled to severance pay, final settlement, or any company benefits.
“All company assets, including the company vehicle, must be returned within 24 hours.”
Fired.
That voice wasn’t Russell’s.
It was Kendra’s sharp, piercing cry.
She had also finished reading her letter.
The content was similar.
Disciplinary dismissal.
The reason: violation of company ethics, an inappropriate relationship with a superior, and involvement in a conspiracy that harmed the company.
“I’ve been fired, Russell. I’ve been fired,” Kendra said.
Kendra shook him, the letter fluttering from her hands onto the hot asphalt.
Russell himself couldn’t speak.
He had been fired from the company he ran.
How?
Evelyn wailed.
She snatched the letter from Russell’s hand, reading it quickly.
“Disciplinary dismissal.
“How? Russell, you’re the director there. You’re important.”
Russell didn’t answer.
He looked with empty, dead eyes inside the black box.
His eyes caught something else.
Beneath the satin fabric, there was another card.
A small ivory card, smaller than the greeting card.
He extended a trembling hand and picked it up.
Again—my calligraphy.
Sharp.
Determined.
Cold.
He read it in his mind first.
“Oh, and by the way, Russell, that company is mine. I own 90% of the shares. Mr. Miller was just following my orders.
“You just got fired from my property.”
Russell staggered.
He leaned on the cold pillar of the gate—the pillar of a house that was no longer his.
The company.
Mine.
Ninety percent.
He knew I’d invested.
He knew I’d founded it.
But I never interfered.
I gave him freedom.
He thought I was a passive, foolish investor.
He thought the company was his to control.
He was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
He was just an employee.
An employee who had just been fired.
“Russell, what does it mean?” Evelyn clearly saw the change in his expression.
Russell couldn’t take it anymore.
He read the sentence on the card aloud.
His voice trembled—a mixture of rage and immense, bottomless fear.
“Oh, and by the way, Russell, that company is mine. I own 90% of the shares. You just got fired from my property.”
For five seconds, there was complete, utter silence on that curb.
Even Kendra stopped crying.
And then Russell continued reading the last line of the card.
“But don’t worry—the real main gift hasn’t arrived yet.”
Thud.
That was the sound of Evelyn Albright’s body hitting the sidewalk.
She had fainted.
Eyes closed.
Face pale as a corpse.
Russell’s sister-in-law and uncles panicked.
“Mom! Mom, wake up!”
Kendra didn’t care about her mother-in-law.
She looked at Russell with terrified eyes.
“It’s hers. The company is hers. So then your salary, your car, everything—it all came from her.”
Russell didn’t respond.
He just crumpled the card in his hand.
“You never had anything!” Kendra yelled again, her voice now broken. “You were poor. You’re jobless.
“You’re homeless.
“You’re a scammer!”
“Russell,” Kendra said, pulling at her hair like a madwoman, sobbing. “I bet everything on this man. I’m pregnant.
“And now I know. The man has nothing.
“I was fired.
“I have no compensation.
“I’m trapped.”
“The main gift hasn’t arrived yet,” Russell whispered to himself.
The phrase just echoed in his head.
He saw his mother passed out on the asphalt.
He saw his hysterical new wife.
He saw the rest of his family looking at him with confusion and fear.
The $15 million house was gone.
The $140,000 from the joint account was gone.
The credit cards were blocked.
The job with its huge salary was gone.
The sports car would be reclaimed.
He had been fired for disciplinary reasons.
And Meredith—Meredith said the main gift had not yet arrived.
A pure, cold terror ran down his spine.
What else was left?
What could possibly be worse than this?
The chaos on the sidewalk reached its peak.
Mrs. Albright—who had regained consciousness—was just sitting on the hot curb, slumped over. Her face was pale, and she was just mumbling:
“It’s gone. Everything is gone. The $15 million house gone.”
Kendra, for her part, had moved from hysterical crying to a desperate, ugly wail.
Her hair, once perfectly styled, was a mess.
Her makeup was completely smudged, revealing a swollen, hateful face.
She was hitting Russell’s chest with her fists.
“Scammer. Scammer. You said you would give me a good life. You said I would be a lady.
“It turns out you’re poor. You have nothing. I’m pregnant, Russell. I’m pregnant.
“What are we going to do now?”
Russell himself was like a statue.
His mind was blank.
The words on that small card.
That company is mine, and the main gift hasn’t arrived yet.
They just repeated in his head like a broken record.
He had lost everything—house, money, job, car, pride—all in a matter of hours.
He had miscalculated.
He had underestimated me.
He thought I was a submissive, foolish, docile woman who would just accept her fate.
He never imagined I was the one quietly controlling his entire life.
“The main gift hasn’t arrived yet,” he whispered again. “What else could it be?