The polished floors of Bellingham Industries gleamed like mirrors, and Tony's reflection stared back at him—clean-cut, black suit, no tie, sleeves rolled slightly at the wrist. A statement. He wasn't here to play their game. He was here to change it.
Aaron walked beside him, carrying a slim folder.
"They think you're coming in blind, sir. The board isn't expecting much. Just nods and smiles."
Tony gave a crooked smile.
"Let them think that."
The elevator doors opened. Twenty-seventh floor. Boardroom floor. The scent of money and arrogance hung in the air like an expensive cologne.
Tony stepped into the boardroom, where a long obsidian table stretched beneath a wall of floor-to-ceiling glass. London sprawled beyond it, grey and endless. A view that screamed power.
The board members were already seated. Nine of them. Men and women in their late forties and fifties, sharp suits, sharper eyes. They didn't rise to greet him. One of them, the man at the head of the table, Mr. Dent, just gestured lazily.
"Take a seat, Mr. Bellingham. We've already started."
Tony didn't flinch. He took the seat at the far end of the table, away from Dent. Let them think he was small. Let them get comfortable.
"Continue," Tony said calmly.
They continued.
Reports. Projections. Figures. Terms he once heard in movies now thrown like weapons. Tony watched. Listened. Waited. Let them throw everything at the walls.
Clara sat at the side of the room, taking notes on a digital pad. Her eyes darted to him often, trying to read him. She'd seen Tony at his lowest, but this? This was new.
One by one, the board droned on. Cutbacks here, shifts in investments there. Cost-saving measures dressed up in shiny graphs.
Finally, Dent closed his laptop with a confident snap.
"Well then. Mr. Bellingham, anything to add?"
Tony leaned back, chair creaking.
"The international branch proposals," he said. "You want to pull out of Tokyo and shift investments to Berlin."
Dent blinked.
"Yes. The projections favor Germany."
Tony nodded slowly, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Except the Tokyo branch just locked down a tech merger with Araki Systems last week. A deal set to triple earnings by quarter four."
Murmurs. Confused looks passed between the board members.
"I doubt a redirection would be wise until we factor that in. But then again, maybe you didn't read that report."
Dent's lips tightened.
(Damn, how did he know?)
Tony continued, voice even but cutting.
"Secondly, those cost cuts to employee health packages. Reverse it. The PR backlash will cost us more than the money saved. A class-action lawsuit is already brewing in Glasgow, and it's not going to be pretty."
One board member—a stiff woman in a blue pantsuit—spoke up.
"With all due respect—"
Tony raised a hand. Just enough to cut her off.
(Don't talk when the G.O.A.T is talking.)
"I may be new in this business, but I'm not stupid. Don't mistake silence for ignorance. I've been watching. Listening. Your numbers dance, but people bleed. We're not building empires by gutting the workers."
Another wave of silence.
Tony leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.
"And one more thing. The next time any of you run a major proposal without looping me in, I'll shut it down before it hits the second page. You think the name Bellingham is just for decoration?"
(It isn't, bro... it isn't.)
Dent gritted his teeth, jaw working like he wanted to say something, but didn't.
Tony's phone buzzed once. He picked it up casually, glanced, and smirked.
"Meeting's over. Aaron, walk me out."
He rose. No one spoke. They just watched him walk. Clara stood frozen as he passed by her.
That wasn't just Tony. That was Kai.
Apparently, Kai in his former life was good when it came to business, in a way. The money he borrowed was actually used to start one. It succeeded at first, but surprisingly... the money got stolen.
Outside the boardroom, Aaron struggled to keep pace.
"Sir, that was... something."
Tony adjusted his cuff.
"Let them chew on it."
They entered the elevator. Clara caught up just before the doors closed.
"That was a bit much," she said, crossing her arms.
Tony glanced at her.
"You said I needed to step up, right?"
"Yeah, but I didn't expect you to go full alpha on them."
(Alpha... whatever do you mean?)
Tony smiled. A glint in his eye. Something sharper than confidence. Something dangerous.
"They needed to see who's really in charge."
The elevator hummed as it descended. Clara stared at him a second longer. Then looked away.
(Woah... What was that?)
Later that afternoon, Tony sat in his office, sprawled across a leather chair, feet up on the desk. He scrolled through his tablet, reading the live reactions. Blogs. Tweets. One headline caught his eye:
"Young Bellingham Snaps Back: Corporate Wolf or Reckless Heir?"
He smirked at it.
Aaron knocked and entered.
"You've got lunch with Ms. Clara in fifteen."
"Great. Just what I need."
Aaron raised a brow.
"Should I cancel?"
Tony sighed.
"Nah. Let's just get it over with."
The café across the street was quiet. It wasn't the one they went to when Clara told him she had found out. Warm-toned, and smelled like roasted coffee beans. Clara was already seated when he arrived, stirring her drink.
Tony slid into the seat opposite her.
"You're late."
"Um... Yeah. I just made a whole boardroom sweat. Cut me some slack."
Clara smirked faintly, but the tension didn't vanish.
"So that's the new you? The suit-wearing, speech-giving, wolf of the boardroom?"
"Maybe it's just the real me finally showing."
"Or maybe it's the Kai you used to be."
Tony looked away.
She watched him for a moment.
"I'm not trying to push you, Tony. I just want to know if you're okay. Really okay."
He didn't answer right away.
"I'm still mad at you. You're still hiding the fact about who you are, and how you know me—both as Kai and this... Tony."
"Isn't that what you are doing?" he asked.
"Quit it. My case is different. I've said this before. I didn't ask for this. I still don't understand how I got here, or what connection me and the real Tony share."
She looked at him, kind of felt broken.
"Some days," he said finally, "I wake up and forget whose life I'm living. Other days, I remember everything. The bad, the worse, and the parts I'm trying to protect."
"And today?"
He looked her in the eye.
"Today I felt like I was finally doing something right. Even if it scared me. Even if it scared you."
She didn't respond for a while. Then reached across the table and slid a napkin toward him. Scribbled on it was a small doodle of a wolf in a suit.
"You're still a dork, huh?" she muttered.
Tony chuckled, pocketing the napkin.
---
Back at the mansion, evening fell over the city. Tony stood by the window of his bedroom, sipping a glass of water.
His phone lit up.
Message from Mia:
"Saw the news. Guess you're a big shot now. Don't forget who took care of you last time."
He smiled.
Typed back:
"I'm still that guy. Just wearing better shoes."
Pause.
Then he added:
"Want to take care of me again?"
Three dots. Typing.
"Only if you start the kisses."
He laughed, out loud. For the first time in hours.
From the hallway, Clara passed by and paused outside his door. Heard the laugh. Heard him happy.
And for a second, just a second, her chest tightened.
(Was it love? Was she worried? What was it?)
Tony was rising.
Into something new.
Into someone... old.