Even Alphas Bow to Her Chapter 08
Lily: [It’s true. Ethan saw it with his own eyes. She’s the founder of Summit.]
Margaret: [Then why won’t she help him?! That’s her brother–in–law! Just because she’s a big shot now she turns her back on family?]
Lily: [I just begged her and she was ice cold. Mom, do you think she’s still hung up on Ethan?]
Margaret: [I don’t care if she’s hung up or not! He’s family! How can she just stand by and watch him drown!]
Margaret: [I’m calling her!]
I watched the messages scroll by.
No one said: How did she build a company this big?
How come we never knew?
Not one of them was surprised by what I’d achieved.
The only thing that surprised them was this: You have
money. Why aren’t you giving it away?
My phone rang. Margaret. I hit mute.
Charlotte knocked. “Vivian, a woman named Lily
Hawthorne keeps calling the front desk. She insists on
being transferred to your office. How should I handle
it?”
“Standard policy. If the number isn’t in my contacts,
don’t put it through.”
“What if she says she’s your sister?”
“I don’t have a sister.”
Three days later.
Charlotte’s voice carried a hint of hesitation.
“Vivian, Ethan Hawthorne is here again. He says he
has new materials he wants to deliver in person.”
In those three days, he’d messaged me eleven times
from different numbers. I hadn’t replied to a single one.
Lily had called the office ninety–nine times. All blocked.
Margaret had posted a long Voice Memo in the group
chat–something about how I was ungrateful.
Robert stayed silent for a day, then sent one message:
[Don’t take it too far.]
“He brought new materials?”
“His assistant said he rebuilt the financial model.”
“Just have the investment team collect it.”
“He insisted on handing it to you personally.”
I rubbed my temples. Persistent.
“Send him up. Five minutes.”
When Ethan pushed the door open, he looked like a
different person from three days ago.
Unshaven. Collar creased. A thick stack of papers in his
hands, edges perfectly aligned.
“Vivian.”
He set the files on my desk.
“I recalculated the CAC Model using 2024 traffic rates.
Adjusted the operations plan too. And I worked out a
payment schedule with the suppliers over the past
couple days.”
I flipped through it.
“The financial model’s improved. But your core
problem isn’t execution.”
“Then what is it?”
“Your product. There’s no proprietary technology
barrier. The concept is solid, but a concept alone
doesn’t hold value. At least seven other teams are
working in the same space. Three of them have already
closed Series B or beyond, and their tech maturity is
way ahead of yours. Your only advantage was being
first to market with the idea.”
He stood there.
“But even that concept-”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Vivian. About that paper-
“I don’t need an explanation.”
“Just hear me out.” His voice dropped. “That year,
when you pushed that notebook across the table to me,
I said it was childish. But I read those pages that same
night. After you moved overseas, you left that notebook in the study room. I took it. I went through
every single page.”
“So you used it to start your company.”
“Yes.”
He didn’t look away.
“You had my WhatsApp,” I said.
“What?”
“You could’ve told me.”
He froze.
That was the point. He had my WhatsApp. He just never
thought he needed to tell me. Never thought I mattered enough to inform.
“Vivian, I admit I was wrong. You could come in as a
tech partner–we could scale this up together-”
“Your company’s been running for three years. The
core concept hasn’t become a real barrier. Your capital
structure is flawed. Your team can’t execute. None of
these issues are about who owns the concept. Even if it
were one hundred percent original to you, with your
current fundamentals, the investment committee wouldn’t approve.”
His fists clenched.
“Do you hate me that much?”
“If I hated you, you wouldn’t have even made it
through that Conference Room door.”
I met with him because he said he had new materials.
Was it to see him?
No. It was to do a full evaluation.