Chapter 12: The Final Proxy
"A gambler?" David stepped forward, his corporate facade finally fracturing to reveal the desperate man beneath. "I spent ten years of my life working eighty-hour weeks to keep this empire afloat while the rest of the family sat back and collected dividends! I took the risks nobody else had the courage to take!"
Elder Lin raised a trembling hand, cutting off David’s outburst with a single, commanding gesture. "And now those risks have brought the federal investigators to our front door," the old man said quietly. "Rachel wants to burn everything down to purge the rot. And she might be right to do so."
"If she succeeds, everything you built—every brick of this estate, every share of the conglomerate—will be seized by the courts," Elena interjected, stepping forward into the firelight. Her voice was urgent, laced with a desperate plea. "Elder Lin, you have the controlling voting shares in the parent holding company. If you sign the emergency dissolution decree tonight, we can legally liquidate the subsidiary division before the federal warrants are finalized. It will protect the core assets from seizure."
Elder Lin looked at Elena, then back at David. The fire crackled softly in the hearth, casting long, dancing shadows across the wood-paneled walls. The weight of generations hung in the balance of the old man’s next decision. He reached out with a trembling hand, picking up the ceramic teacup, taking a slow, deliberate sip before setting it back down on the wood.
"Dissolving the division won't erase what you did, David," Elder Lin said, his voice steady despite his frailty. "It will only shield the family from public ruin."
"It will save the company," David replied firmly.
Elder Lin opened the top drawer of the mahogany side table and withdrew a heavy fountain pen crafted from brushed gold and dark resin. He placed it squarely in the center of the wooden table. Then, he slid a thick folder of legal documents toward them.
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"Signatures are required on pages four and twelve," Elder Lin said, his eyes locking onto David's. "I will sign the proxy authorization. But once this is done, David, your tenure with Lin Enterprises is officially terminated. You and Elena will clear your desks by morning and leave the country. You will never return to the corporate sector again."
David stared at the golden fountain pen. It was a bitter exile—a complete stripping of the power and status he had sacrificed his life to attain. But as he looked at the document, he realized it was the only way out alive.
