Chapter 6 He's The Owner

• Bruckner & Weiss Headquarters – 2:00 PM
• The doors hissed open as Kael remembered the ake brass frames and cold air that always smelled like lemon cleaner.
• He stepped in and no one noticed. His black hoodie clung to him loosely. His cargo jeans were faded and wrinkled. The sneakers on his feet looked like they’d walked through fire, because they had.
• He stood still just inside the marble entrance. From behind the front desk, the receptionist glanced up. She didn’t recognize him. Of course she didn’t. She saw the hoodie before she saw the man.
• "Excuse me?” Kael looked at her, unblinking.
• “Yes,” he said.
• “If you’re here for deliveries, wrong door. Loading dock’s out back,” she said, already half-turning back to her screen.
• Kael stepped closer, calmly “I need access to Floor 47.”
• “There’s a reassessment meeting upstairs,” he said.
• “I know,” she replied. “And you're not on the list.
• Kael tilted his head. “That list..is it accurate?”
• “It always is.”
• The receptionist stopped typing slowly and looked up again, this time with full disdain.
• "I'm sorry, do I look like someone who lets people in off the street?” Kael’s hands rested on the receptionist desk.
• “Maybe"
• “Watch your tongue, you don't speak to be disrespectfully"
• She leaned forward slightly. “Scram away....Unless you’ve got a meeting on record, a security badge, or an executive escort, you’re not going anywhere past that turnstile.”
• She pressed a button under the desk. A ping echoed across the lobby. Two security guards at the far end began to approach.
• “Let’s not make this complicated, okay?” she added, louder now.
• “I’m not in the mood.”
• The noise drew attention. Two interns paused by the escalator. One of the café workers leaned out. More heads turned from the mezzanine.
• Kael said nothing as the guards reached him.
• “Sir,” one said. “We’ll have to ask you to step outside.”
• “Why?” Kael asked calmly.
• “You’re not registered with the visitor system. And you’re—”
• He stopped short of saying dressed like a vagrant.
• The receptionist cut in, “He said he’s here for a board meeting. Floor forty-seven.”
• They quietly laughed. “Maybe he wants to pitch a startup,” someone muttered.
• “Looks like he slept in the subway.”
• Across the lobby, a woman stopped walking. Annika was still with her steel bun hair style. She watched the scene from ten feet away, with a neutral expression. Kael saw her too, but said nothing.
• She came closer, eyes narrowed. “You,” she said. “You look familiar.”
• Kael’s expression didn’t move. “You handled my HR review. Three years ago.”
• Her brows lifted faintly, a flicker of memory surfacing — then flattening into indifference.
• “Well, clearly it didn’t go well,” she said.
• “And clearly it didn’t fix your professional standards.”
• She turned to the guards. “Escalate him if needed. This is above reception’s clearance.”
• Kael turned his head slowly toward her. “Still talking like you’re the one who writes policies.”
• Annika blinked “Excuse me?”
• “You always used big words to cover small judgment.”
• Now her jaw tightened. “Security, remove him. Now.” Kael held still as more people were watching. The receptionist looked smug. The guards stepped closer.
• She came in heels from above, it was Elyra Voss. Three years hadn’t aged her, she came into full view, pausing on the bottom step. Elyra wore a tight blazer, glossy lips, oversized sunglasses pushed into her highlighted hair. That same smirk Kael remembered.
• She spotted the gathering and drifted over, eyes skimming Kael with mild interest.
• “Wait…” she narrowed her eyes, then gave a faint scoff.
• “Kael?”
• Kael looked at her bot caring if she was present as she blinked. Then smirked. “Wow. Still wearing that same charity hoodie?”
• "Three years, and you still dress like a tax write-off.”
• Kael didn’t react, but Elyra tilted her head, mockingly polite.
• “Did you come back to reapply? Or just here to relive the trauma?”
• Kael’s voice stayed low. “Guess the poor brat routine has an expiration date.”
• Elyra snorted lightly. “Apparently not for you.” Kael used to give Elyra everything. Every paycheck, every bonus was gone before he saw a cent. Just to keep her in salons, heels, and candlelit dinners she bragged about online.
• He went without so she could post like she was with a millionaire. But the truth? She was already sleeping with one. Kael found out the same week his mother collapsed and caught her in a stranger’s car, wearing the necklace he skipped meals to buy.
• She didn’t cry and didn’t deny it. She just looked him dead in the face and said she needed more than hope, Kael.”
• Elyra stepped back slightly, letting Annika take the front. “We’re done here,” Annika said sharply. “Guards, remove him.”
• Kael's fingers moved as he reached into his back pocket and took out a burner phone with a scratched screen. He pressed one contact. A voice answered on the first ring.
• “Sir?”
• Kael’s voice sounded authoritative “Yes. I’m standing in the lobby of my own building, and your staff are attempting to escort me off the premises.”
• “Sir, sorry for the misunderstanding, I will be there in a short while.” Kael ended the call. He ended the call and slid the phone back into his pocket like he hadn’t just triggered a power shift.
• The entire lobby watched as Annika scoffed. “Oh, really?” she said loud enough for the entire floor to hear.
• “What was that? You think a burner phone and a deep voice make you important?" She gave a subtle signal, and the two guards understood what they needed to do as she turned to leave. After all, Kael was wasting her time.
• The two security guards moved fast. They were the kind of men hired to move problems without questions. They reached for Kael, but he didn’t step back. One guard placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to lift him up and dump him outside, but in one swift motion, the first guard’s legs left the ground, his full frame crashing to the floor with a heavy, humiliating THUD as Kael lifted him effortlessly.
• The second blinked, tried to catch Kael from behind, but Kael turned clean under the grip, grabbed his wrist, twisted it and slammed him backward onto the marble floor.
• Silence hit the lobby like a gunshot. One intern dropped her coffee. The receptionist stumbled back behind the desk. Annika didn’t know what to say and Elyra was equally dumbfounded too.
• No one had expected it.
• Not from someone in a hoodie.
• Not from a man who looked like he’d slept on a park bench. Those guards were trained, heavyweights, but Kael had dropped them clean.
• He stood over them, he didn’t breathe hard and didn’t flinch. The guards groaned, but Kael stood still, he looked straight at Annika. “I’m not going anywhere.”
• “And the next person who puts a hand on me will leave with a broken one.”
• The elevator pinged as everyone turned. Three men in tailored suits stepped out.
• The first man’s eyes swept the room. When he saw Kael, he stopped. He approached fast. The second recognized him next, eyes widening slightly. They had seen his picture in signing documents, they would've never believed that it was him due to his appearance.
• And the third—an older man in a vest with sharp silver hair, nodded once like a general saluting a superior.
• The receptionist stepped back. Annika blinked. Elyra started to speak,
• “Is that…?
• Then the older man spoke. “Mr. Darion,” he said loudly, firmly. ,"Apologies. You weren’t supposed to be touched. This is on us.”
• Kael said nothing as he just nodded slightly. The board members turned to the staff.
• “He’s the primary shareholder,” ne said.
• “He owns this building.”
• Now everyone heard it. The laughter was gone. Annika's hand stopped moving. Elyra's face flushed deep red.