The word about Xhemin taking over, spread all over L'Empire like a wildfire.

There was chaos everywhere at the L'Empire corporate center and the board meeting that awaited the Lagdameo heir was smoking hot tension and curses, all of which came from the fact that after everything, Darryl decided to end their dynasty even before the last of them took its last breath.

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"How can the Lagdameo heir do this foolish thing?" Samson Lagdameo raged over what seemed like a foolish decision on Darryl's part. "These shares were like an heirloom, how could he give it to that woman like it was nothing?"

"We are not going to welcome that woman as the president of L'Empire!" Draco almost screamed in everyone's faces. "How could a woman lead us all? More so a woman who does not belong to our family!"

"Don Samuelle there must be something else we could do," Another board member who was also frustrated by the fact turned to Don Samuelle helplessly. "The other elders of L'Empire will surely not allow this. How can we appease everyone at this point? Your grandson had crossed the line,"

Don Samuelle sat at the center of the conference table quietly. At this point, he was the only person calm and quiet that even the onlookers couldn't understand. How can he be so calm at this point? What they didn't know was that he was also very mad but with all that happened to his grandson, he wished to hear his reasons for selling off L'Empire to his estranged wife for nothing. He trusted him somehow as there was never such a point in his business management and decision making that Darryl made him upset. He was always brilliant and reasonable, perhaps he also had a good reason for doing such an outrageous thing right then.

"We are all aware we have no future anymore and that at the end, the last Lagdameo standing could do nothing but transfer L'Empire to someone not our kin, but that time is still far too long to take place. How can the Lagdameo heir allow L'Empire to be taken away from us at this point when we are all still here?"

Right then, L'Empire had not found a solution to their problems of fertility. They all remained barren then, all of them, brought by the Staw serum tea Dian made them all drink for years. So they were already aware that their lineage had no more future and that someday, no son and daughters will be able to take over the company their ancestors built for the family.

"Manuel, you've got to talk to your son!" Another lamented and everyone agreed on such a proposition. "There has to be a way that you can make him stop this foolishness!"

Manuel himself couldn't rebut the board member's words and complaint. He himself was caught off guard by such an action from Darryl and as much as he wanted to explain everything or calm everyone off, he had no words of assurance to give them as he was very blind as to his son's plans.

The arguments and complaints became intense as minutes went by that L'Empire's secretaries thought the whole board will rally a protest even before the new President takes her claim but before things could go worst, the Lagdameo heir came.

"The Lagdameo heir is here," The head secretary announced and for a moment, the board became silent and just watched Darryl enter the room. He just came from LGC and after settling things with Xhemin, he headed straight to L'Empire to convince the board.

"Good morning," Darryl gave his greeting and immediately proceeded. "By now you all must have been aware that the Lagdameo heir's shares was already in the hands of CEO Leigh,"

"President, how could you do this to our family?"

"What the hell are you thinking!"

"Don't tell me that goddam woman accepted without protests? Does she think we welcome her with banners?" The lamentations went on. "She will never ever be able to step in! She stole the shares that belonged to the Lagdameo heir!"

"I gave her the shares willingly," Darryl answered. His tone was calm but determined. "At this point, she basically has no choice but to accept it,"

"Then what kind of betrayal is this President D?" Another flushed his resentment over such a very unfair resolution, "We had gone through hell to save L'Empire only for it to end in the hands of an enemy,"

"She is not an enemy," Darryl rebutted. He was very calm that even though the words of the board were, he took them in patiently like he all cares for all their protestations.

"Why because she's your wife? Have you not considered the fact that there had never been a woman president of L'Empire?" Samson Lagdameo blabbered insensitively.

"Are we surely going to talk about that?" Darryl returned the question. "After what happened to my sister, Dian Emmanuelle, are we really going down that path still?"

When Darryl mentioned Dian's name, everyone fell silent. Dian was a Lagdameo tragedy they avoided mentioning. After the accident that happened in Puente De Amor, the Lagdameo crashed her out of the lineage and force to forget about her.

"You can always forget about her, that was an easy cowardly decision you all gave yourselves," Darryl started his resentments, "But know that if you keep insisting patriarchy in this family, then I don't want to be a Lagdameo anymore. Our ways had brought us to our doom and now I am giving you our redemption, and yet you all refused because she was a woman?"

"It's not really that she was a woman," Manuel interned then giving Samson an eye of warning. Most of the elders and the Lagdameo males already implicitly condemned their ways of not giving women in their family some acknowledgements. What had happened, especially with Manuel's children, they had seen the worst that can happen when women were pushed to their edge.