Crown Stolen, Crown Reclaimed

The room went dead quiet.

People instinctively stepped aside, clearing a path. Even Violet stood up straight from her chair.

"Piers, perfect timing!" Jim hurried over, eager to take credit. "There's a fraud here pretending to be the chairman's daughter. I was just about to have her removed."

Piers didn't even glance at him.

He walked straight to me, took off his jacket, and draped it over my shoulders. There was guilt written all over his face.

"Sorry, I'm late."

For someone as decisive and hard as Piers, that kind of tone was rare.

A dozen looks flickered between us, full of speculation.

Violet's voice turned sharp, laced with sarcasm.

"Piers, even if she's with you, anyone joining Neel Corporation still has to go through proper hiring procedures. As head of HR, I have the authority to suspend her position. I'm sure you don't have a problem with that."

The corner of my mouth lifted slightly.

These two idiots picked a fight with the wrong person and still thought I was just Piers's side piece.

Piers shot her an annoyed look and flung a document straight at her.

"Take a good look," he said coldly. "This appointment was signed by Mr. Neel himself. Are you questioning his decision?"

The pressure in his voice hit the room like a weight. No one dared speak.

Violet hesitated, clearly unwilling to back down. Something hardened in her expression as she stepped forward again.

"But she impersonated the heiress and disrespected her coworkers. If we don't make an example out of her…"

Piers glanced at me, waiting.

He knew I had asked him to keep my identity quiet.

I let out a slow, deliberate breath.

"So this is the kind of people you've been bringing in?"

Piers's face darkened instantly. The temperature in the room seemed to drop with it. His gaze locked onto Violet.

"Effective immediately, you're fired."

He didn't stop there.

"Anyone involved in this mess, HR will document every name. We're doing a full internal review."

A wave of sharp inhales swept through the crowd.

Violet's eyes widened, disbelief written all over her face.

"Why?!" she demanded. "She's the one pretending!"

"Pretending?" Piers's voice cut clean through hers. "She is the chairman's only daughter, the real heiress of Neel Corporation, Riley Franklin!"

He looked down at Violet, each word deliberate.

"Do you really think she needs to pretend?"

The words hit like a thunderclap.

The room erupted.

"What? Violet's the fake? I can't believe she accused someone else just to cover her own tracks!"

"I knew it! Ms. Franklin came right out and said who she was. That's real confidence."

"For two years, Violet's been using the Neel name to take advantage of people. She'd better pay it all back!"

All the color drained from Violet's face as she staggered and nearly collapsed to the floor. She stared at me as if she couldn't process what she was seeing.

Jim grabbed her shoulders hard, his face twisting with anger. "You lied to me?"

Violet couldn't even answer. She just looked at him, desperate, begging silently for forgiveness.

He shoved her away.

Then he turned to me, all the arrogance gone.

"Ms. Franklin, this was all a misunderstanding. I didn't realize who you were. Please don't hold it against me."

I let out a short laugh. Guess he knew how to play it both ways.

"Misunderstanding?" I said. "This isn't just a misunderstanding. There's still the matter of compensation."

I didn't give him a chance to respond.

I lifted my wrist, eyes on the ticking second hand, and started counting down.

"Ten. Nine. Eight… One."

Right as I finished, the office doors opened again.