Chapter 6 - The Prodigal Son’s Greed
Julian Brooks, Harold's thirty-four-year-old only son and the current Executive Vice President of Horizon International, marched toward the head of the conference table, his leather Italian loafers clicking aggressively on the hardwood trim. His eyes burned with venom as he took in the scene: the CEO on the verge of tears, the board members sitting silently, and an impoverished teenager in a soaked yellow safety vest sitting in the place of honor.
"Father, have you completely lost your mind?" Julian sneered, throwing a thick leather portfolio onto the table. "You disappear for nearly a year, roaming around like a homeless derelict, and the moment you return, you summon the entire Board to Terminal Three and fire one of my most efficient station managers?"
"Thomas Wallace was not efficient, Julian," Claire Morgan retorted sharply, standing her ground. "Wallace was a liability who disgraced the core values of this organization. He fired a teenage employee for rendering life-saving aid to your own father!"
Julian let out a mocking snort, waving his hand dismissively. "Wallace was keeping the terminal on schedule during our highest-grossing fiscal quarter. If every baggage handler stopped to wipe the nose of every traveler who stumbles in the terminal, this airport would collapse into operational chaos!"
Julian turned his glare upon Ethan. "And who is this kid? Why is he eating executive catering in the boardroom? Get him out of here before I call airport police."
"Sit down, Julian," Harold's voice was not loud, but it possessed the weight of an iron anchor dropping into the sea.
Julian hesitated, his jaw clenching in fury, but the absolute authority in his father's eyes forced him into a nearby leather armchair.
"Ethan Carter is here because he possesses the one quality you have spent your entire adult life discarding," Harold said, leaning heavily on his mahogany cane as he stood before his son. "He has a conscience."
Julian scoffed. "A conscience doesn't pay quarterly dividends, Father! A conscience doesn't negotiate fuel contracts or secure international landing slots in London and Tokyo! I am the Executive Vice President of this company. I hold an MBA from Harvard, and I have increased our operating profit margins by fourteen percent over the last three years!"
"By slashing employee healthcare benefits," James Reynolds, the senior board member, chimed in with disgust. "By cutting maintenance staff hours, outsourcing terminal cleaning to substandard contractors, and imposing draconian penalty metrics on entry-level workers."
"That is called modern corporate optimization, James!" Julian yelled, slamming his palm on the table. "We are in the middle of negotiating a fifteen-billion-dollar merger with Apex Global Holdings. If the Apex delegation sees that Horizon is being run like a charity shelter instead of a ruthless multinational corporation, the buyout will fall apart!"
Harold’s eyes narrowed into fierce slits. "Apex Global? The private equity vulture fund that stripped Midwest Airlines of its pension funds and liquidated regional airports across the Rust Belt? Is that who you’ve been secretly negotiating with behind my back, Julian?"
Julian's face flushed with a mixture of guilt and defiance. "Apex is offering a thirty-percent premium on all Horizon voting shares! Every member of this board stands to make fifty million dollars in cash! We would take the company private, slash the bloated customer service departments, and automate ninety percent of ground operations. It is the future of aviation!"
"Over my dead body," Harold Brooks growled, his voice trembling with righteous fury. "I did not spend fifty-two years building Horizon into a symbol of American hospitality just to watch my greedy son sell it off for scrap to Wall Street vultures!"
Harold turned to Claire Morgan. "Claire, distribute the new corporate charter amendments immediately."
Claire tapped her tablet, and the massive display screens along the boardroom wall illuminated with a legally binding executive decree.
"Effective immediately," Claire read aloud, "Harold Brooks, holding fifty-one percent of all Class-A voting shares, establishes the Evelyn Brooks Foundation for Passenger Compassion. Furthermore, Mr. Ethan Carter is appointed as the Special Executive Apprentice to the Chairman, with full oversight authority over passenger welfare programs and frontline employee working conditions across all forty-two Horizon airports."
Julian leaped to his feet, knocking his chair backward. "This is insane! You're appointing a seventeen-year-old baggage boy to oversee executive operations? He doesn't even have a high school diploma! I will challenge this in Delaware Chancery Court! I will have you declared mentally incompetent, Father!"
Harold stepped forward until he was standing inches from his son's furious face.
"Try it, Julian," Harold said with ice in his voice. "And I will release the internal audit reports from your unauthorized offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. Do you really think I didn't know why you were pushing the Apex merger?"
Julian went completely pale. His arrogant smirk vanished, replaced by sheer panic.
"You have twenty-four hours to withdraw from all Apex negotiations, Julian," Harold commanded. "If I find out you have spoken to their representatives again, I will strip you of your Vice Presidency and remove you from my will entirely. Now, get out of my sight."
Julian clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. He cast a murderous, venomous glare at Ethan Carter—a look of pure, unadulterated hatred that sent a shiver down Ethan's spine.
"You think you’ve won, kid?" Julian whispered in a dark, menacing tone as he grabbed his portfolio. "You just stepped into a war you don't understand. Enjoy your little Cinderella story while it lasts... because I will make sure it burns to the ground."
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Julian turned on his heel and stormed out of the SkySuite, the heavy oak doors slamming shut behind him with the force of a gunshot.
Ethan sat in stunned silence, his heart pounding in his chest. He looked at Harold, realizing that his life had not just changed—it had been thrust directly into the crosshairs of a ruthless corporate battle for billions of dollars.
