Corporate Villainy: Trampling Protagonists as a Business Dad

Vincent tapped twice on the table, and the screen behind him updated with a new proposal.

🔍 Phase Two: Controlled Disclosure

Objective: Position Cornelius Holdings as victim of corporate espionage

Public Message: "Security breach detected. Proprietary data potentially compromised. Independent investigation underway."

Strategic Purpose: Create narrative confusion while maintaining victim status

"We implement this within the next six hours," Vincent announced. "Through secondary media contacts, not primary corporate channels. The message needs to appear as if we're reluctantly acknowledging a problem rather than making accusations."

"Won't that invite deeper scrutiny?" asked Gareth.

Helena answered before Vincent could respond, her voice carrying the kind of clarity that suggested she'd been following his logic perfectly. "It makes us look like victims rather than aggressors. If we were manipulating them, why would we admit to losses?"

Vincent's eyes met hers across the table, and for a moment there was something almost like pride in his expression. "Precisely. We feed them doubt first, then we feed them fire."

3:30 PM - After the Meeting

When the meeting adjourned, Vincent left first—called away to review intelligence reports about competitor reactions to the morning's events. As he passed Olivia's position, he gave her a brief glance, a silent communication that said handle the follow-up efficiently. She nodded with professional crispness, but he caught the slight tension in her shoulders.

Helena lingered at the edge of the room, ostensibly reviewing her notes but actually waiting for the other department heads to leave. Vincent's absence felt deliberate—he'd known this conversation would happen and had chosen not to interfere.

When the room finally emptied except for the two women, Helena spoke first.

"You love him," she said softly, not looking up from her tablet.

Olivia's hands stilled on her device. For just a moment, her carefully maintained professional composure cracked, revealing something raw underneath. "That's not relevant to our working relationship."

"I didn't say it was," Helena replied, finally looking up. "But it's true."

The silence stretched between them, filled with the kind of tension that came from acknowledging truths that had been carefully avoided.

"With respect," Olivia said, her voice regaining its professional edge, "I don't think you understand the nature of my position here. My job is to anticipate his needs, manage his schedule, and ensure his decisions are implemented effectively. If that occasionally resembles... other forms of attention, it's because dedication to one's work can appear similar to personal attachment."

Helena's smile was gentle but knowing. "Olivia, I've seen you work. You're brilliant, efficient, and completely professional. You're also in love with him, and trying to convince yourself that what you feel is just professional dedication."

Olivia's jaw tightened. "And you... you don't mind? If someone else feels that way about him?"

"Of course I mind," Helena said, her voice carrying a note of surprising vulnerability. "I feel jealous. I feel small sometimes. I feel like I'm competing for attention with the most important things in his life—his work, his ambitions, his plans."

She set down her tablet and turned to face Olivia directly. "But Vincent isn't the kind of man you own. He's the kind of man you orbit. You try to cage him, you lose him. You try to claim all of him, you break yourself trying."

"So you just... accept it?"

"I accept reality," Helena said simply. "I'd rather share something real with him than pretend I can have something that doesn't exist. I'd rather have genuine moments, real conversations, actual intimacy, even if I know I'm not the only person in his life."

Olivia was quiet for a long moment, her professional mask slipping to reveal genuine confusion. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I've watched you hold everything together around him all this time. You already know what he is. You see him clearly—the ambition, the calculation, the way he views people as pieces on a board. You understand him without illusions."

Helena's expression grew more serious. "That makes you more suitable as a... companion than some woman who might show up later thinking he's a romantic fantasy. You know what you'd be getting into."

"And you think that's what I want?"

"I think," Helena said carefully, "that you've already decided what you want. You're just afraid to admit it to yourself."

Helena stood, gathering her materials with practiced efficiency. "I'd rather lose part of him to someone who understands him than lose all of him to someone who doesn't."

She moved toward the door, then paused. "For what it's worth, Olivia, I didn't say all of this for your benefit. I said it because I love him enough to want him to be happy. And I think he's happier when he's surrounded by people who see him clearly rather than people who see what they wish he was."

The door closed behind her with a soft click, leaving Olivia alone in the conference room with her thoughts and the growing realization that her carefully constructed professional boundaries had been more transparent than she'd imagined.

5:45 PM - Vincent's Executive Office

Vincent stood again at his windows, but this time his attention was focused on the reports spread across his desk rather than the city below. The afternoon had brought exactly the kind of intelligence he'd been hoping for—both corporations were beginning to question not just the morning's incidents, but their entire relationship with each other.

Olivia entered without knocking, a privilege reserved for urgent matters or private conversations. Her expression was carefully neutral, but Vincent had learned to read the subtle signs of her emotional state—the slight stiffness in her posture, the way she held her tablet a fraction higher than usual.

"The Phase Two implementation is underway," she reported. "Secondary media contact has agreed to run the story as a business brief rather than a headline. It should appear as reluctant disclosure rather than corporate positioning."

"Excellent. And the corporate reactions?"

"Accelerating as predicted. Meridian's emergency communications show increased activity around asset security protocols. Annapurna's security division has initiated what appears to be a comprehensive review of shared project vulnerabilities."

Vincent nodded, then studied her face more carefully. "And the personal matter that's affecting your professional performance?"

Olivia's composure cracked slightly. "I'm not sure what you mean, sir."

"You're holding your tablet higher than usual to create a psychological barrier. Your report, while accurate, was delivered with unusual formality. And you've been avoiding eye contact since you entered the room." Vincent's voice was clinical but not unkind. "These are all indicators of emotional distress attempting to maintain professional facade."

This is who I am now, Vincent thought. Someone who notices these details, who understands psychological patterns, who can read people like technical manuals. The original Vincent would have ignored her emotional state entirely unless it affected his immediate needs.

"Helena and I had a conversation after the meeting," Olivia admitted.

"About your feelings for me."

It wasn't a question, and Olivia's slight nod confirmed what Vincent had already deduced. "Are you going to request a transfer?" he asked.

"No, sir. My position here is... important to me."

"Because you're professionally fulfilled, or because you're personally invested?"

Olivia met his eyes for the first time since entering. "Both."

Vincent considered this for a moment, then moved away from the window to sit behind his desk. "Olivia, you're the most competent assistant I've ever worked with. You anticipate needs I haven't expressed, you handle complex situations with remarkable skill, and you've never once betrayed a confidence or compromised operational security."

"Thank you, sir."

"However," Vincent continued, "I'm also aware that your... dedication to your work has personal components that go beyond professional excellence."

"Sir, I—"

"I'm not criticizing," Vincent interrupted gently. "I'm acknowledging reality. Helena was right about one thing—I'm not the kind of man who can be owned or controlled. I'm also not the kind of man who expects the people around him to pretend they don't have feelings."

Olivia's expression shifted, surprise replacing defensive professionalism.

"What I require from the people in my life is honesty, competence, and loyalty. If you can provide those things while managing your personal feelings appropriately, then your emotional investment is your own business."

"And if I can't?"

Vincent's smile was sharp but not unkind. "Then we'll address that situation when it arises. For now, you're exactly where you need to be, doing exactly what you do best."

This is the difference between who I was and who I'm becoming, Vincent thought. The original Vincent would have either ignored this entirely or used it as leverage. I'm choosing to acknowledge it without exploiting it. That's... progress, I suppose.

"Sir, may I ask... what you said about Helena being right about one thing?"

"She understands that I value people who see me clearly rather than people who see what they wish I was," Vincent replied. "You've seen me make decisions that would horrify most people. You've watched me manipulate situations and people with surgical precision. You've never once suggested I should be more moral or more conventional."

"Because you're effective," Olivia said simply.

"Because I'm successful," Vincent corrected. "And because you understand that success in this world requires methods that more conventional people would find uncomfortable."

He leaned back in his chair, studying her face. "I'm going to continue becoming more calculating, more manipulative, more strategically ruthless. The corporate cultivation world rewards those traits. If you can accept that reality, then we'll work well together. If you can't..."

"I can," Olivia said, her voice carrying new certainty. "I've already seen what you're capable of. I've already chosen to be part of it."

Vincent nodded approvingly. "Then let's discuss Phase Three of our current operation. Tomorrow morning, both corporations will be dealing with the uncertainty of our security breach announcement. That's when we introduce the next complication."

As Olivia settled into her chair with renewed focus, Vincent felt a sense of pieces falling into place. The original Vincent had ruled through fear and intimidation. The current Vincent was learning to lead through understanding and strategic positioning.

I accept what I'm becoming, he thought, watching Olivia's professional mask settle back into place over her personal feelings. I'm not the man I was in my previous life, and I'm not the man who originally owned this body. I'm something new—someone who can read people, manipulate situations, and build power through precision rather than brutality.

And I'm good at it.

The thought no longer troubled him. In this world of corporate cultivation, being good at manipulation wasn't a character flaw—it was a survival skill. And Vincent Cornelius had decided he intended to do much more than merely survive.

As he watched Olivia prepare for their strategic discussion, another thought surfaced—one that surprised him with its clarity and depth.

I care about her, he realized. Not just as an asset, not just as someone useful to my plans. I genuinely care about Olivia as a person. But that's exactly why I can't act on her feelings right now.

The realization came with uncomfortable honesty.

She's brilliant, loyal, and she sees me clearly—all qualities I value deeply. But Olivia is too important to my operations to risk disrupting with a poorly timed romantic entanglement. Helena serves a different function—public relations, external image management. If that relationship becomes complicated, I can manage the fallout without crippling my core operations.

Vincent's expression remained neutral, but internally he continued his analysis.

But Olivia? She's the center of my operational efficiency. She knows every detail of my business, every strategic move, every vulnerability. If I pursue her now, while she's emotionally invested and professionally dependent, and something goes wrong... I could lose everything I've built.

More pragmatically, I'm still learning to control my new manipulative instincts. With Helena, I tested those abilities—learning to read people, to influence emotions, to create the psychological conditions for attachment. It worked, perhaps too well. But Olivia has been observing that entire process. She's seen me become more calculating, more strategically minded. If I pursue her now, she'll always wonder if her feelings are genuine or if I simply applied the same techniques I used on Helena.

The smart play is patience. Let her feelings develop naturally, let her see me as I truly am now rather than who I was becoming. And when the time comes, I want her to choose me because she loves who I've become, not because she fell in love with who I was becoming.

The forest was calm for now, dense with secrets and silent collusion. But tomorrow, Phase Three would strike the flint. And when the fire spread, no one would remember where it started—only who was left standing.