CHAPTER 2 – The Billion-Dollar Secret
Nobody moved.
Victoria laughed nervously.
"This has to be some kind of joke."
The captain looked at her without blinking.
"It isn't."
He turned toward the elderly woman.
"Madam Eleanor Hayes, Chairwoman of Hayes Global Aviation... your board has been waiting."
The crowd gasped.
Phones appeared instantly.
Investors stared at Ethan.
His face turned ghost white.
The company he had spent years bragging about...
The luxury jet...
The airport terminal...
Even the corporation financing today's billion-dollar merger...
All belonged to his mother.
Victoria's confident smile disappeared.
"Ethan... you told me your mother died years ago."
He couldn't answer.
Because he had lied.
Not just to Victoria.
To everyone.
He had erased his own mother from his life the day he became successful, believing her humble appearance would destroy the wealthy image he had created.
The captain handed Eleanor a digital tablet.
"The board meeting starts in fifteen minutes."
She nodded.
Then looked at Ethan.
"I came today because I wanted to see whether success had changed your heart..."
She paused.
"...or only your last name."
Tears filled Ethan's eyes.
"Mom... please..."
For the first time in years...
He called her "Mom."
Too late.
Eleanor opened the tablet.
"Effective immediately..."
Every executive held their breath.
"...the position of CEO is under review."
Ethan nearly collapsed.
Victoria grabbed his arm.
"Tell them this is a misunderstanding!"
But one by one...
The investors walked away from Ethan.
Not because he had failed in business.
Because they had just witnessed something worse.
A man willing to deny the woman who sacrificed everything for him.
As Eleanor slowly climbed the jet stairs, she stopped one final time.
Without looking back, she said,
"The greatest poverty isn't having no money..."
"It's forgetting the hands that lifted you when you had nothing."
The aircraft door closed.
The engines roared.
And Ethan watched billions of dollars...
Along with the only person who had ever loved him unconditionally...
Disappear into the sky.
But hidden inside Eleanor's handbag was one final envelope.
A rewritten will.
May you like
One that no longer included Ethan's name.
And its new beneficiary would shock the entire Hayes family...
