Ethan pushed himself upright.
"Don't touch me."
Marcus leaned toward him.
"You're in no position to give orders."
Ethan looked directly into his eyes.
"You're making a mistake."
Marcus smiled.
"You're the one who made a mistake."
He gestured toward the door.
"Get him out."
Two security guards entered the room.
Ethan struggled to maintain his balance as they approached.
He looked at Eleanor one final time.
"You're going to regret this."
Eleanor did not answer.
The guards dragged him toward the elevator.
His blood left a small red mark on the polished floor.
Nobody bothered to clean it up.
Nobody asked whether he needed medical attention.
And nobody in that conference room understood that the young man they had just thrown out possessed the one thing that could destroy their entire organization.
The original ownership documents.
CHAPTER 2: THE BOY WHO HAD NOTHING
Ethan Miller had not been born into wealth.
He grew up in a small house in Ohio with his mother, Sarah, and his younger sister, Lily.
His father had disappeared when he was six.
Sarah never explained exactly what had happened.
Whenever Ethan asked, she simply told him that his father had made choices that hurt their family.
After that, she worked two jobs to support her children.
She cleaned offices during the day and worked at a grocery store in the evening.
Ethan remembered falling asleep at the kitchen table while waiting for her to return home.
He remembered the winter when the heating stopped working.
He remembered his mother pretending she was not hungry so that he and Lily could have larger portions.
Those experiences shaped him.
He promised himself that one day he would earn enough money to give his mother a comfortable life.
He also promised that he would never treat struggling people as though they were invisible.
At seventeen, Ethan received a scholarship to attend university.
He worked part-time in a restaurant, completed internships, and graduated with excellent results.
His first job was at a technology startup.
Within three years, he had developed a software system that helped companies identify financial irregularities in complicated transactions.
One of his clients was Harrison International.
The company was impressed by his work and offered him a position.
Ethan accepted.
At first, he worked in a small office with six employees.
He was not interested in expensive clothes or luxury cars.
He cared about solving problems.
His ideas eventually helped Harrison International save millions of dollars.
When the company experienced a difficult period, Ethan developed a new investment monitoring platform that prevented several major losses.
Eleanor Harrison noticed his work.
She invited him to her office.
"I've been reading your reports," she said.
"Thank you, ma'am."
"Do you know why I asked you to come here?"
Ethan shook his head.