Chapter 5 - THE BOARDROOM COLLAPSE
Eleanor’s face flushed bright red with outrage. "Are you insane, Sebastian?! I am the founder's widow! I own twenty-five percent of this company! You cannot remove me!"
"I can, and I will, under Clause 9 of the corporate charter," Sebastian said, his voice terrifyingly quiet. "Clause 9 clearly states that any board member who engages in corporate espionage, falsification of legal documents, or activities that bring catastrophic reputational harm to Carter Global is subject to immediate expulsion without severance."
"I have done no such thing!" Eleanor shrieked. "This girl is a fortune hunter who—"
"Silence, Eleanor," Sebastian snapped, opening the black binder. "Five years ago, you used corporate funds to pay off hospital administrators at Mercy Health to hide the birth of my children. You forged Hannah’s signature on a legal relinquishment document while she was heavily medicated post-surgery."
The board members began whispering frantically among themselves. Several sat back in shock.
"That’s a lie!" Eleanor yelled, looking around the room for support. "Olivia! Where is Olivia? She will clarify this!"
"Olivia Bennett has been placed under federal investigation for fraud and wire tampering," Sebastian replied coldly. He pressed a button on the conference system projector.
A massive screen lowered from the ceiling. Displayed on it were bank transfer records showing a $500,000 payment from Eleanor’s personal account to Olivia’s offshore account dated the exact week I was discharged from the hospital.
"You bought her silence, Mother," Sebastian said, tears glistening in his eyes. "You paid her to help you rob me of my family. You made me believe the love of my life abandoned me when I was hanging onto life by a thread."
"I did it for the family!" Eleanor shouted, no longer denying it. She pointed a trembling finger at Sebastian. "She was a commoner! A nobody from a middle-class family! She would have ruined your social standing! Look at you now—you are on the verge of acquiring the Bennett Corporation!"
"I don't care about the Bennett Corporation," Sebastian said, stepping around the table. He stopped in front of his mother. "I care about the three children sitting in a small apartment across town who don't even know who their father is because of your monstrous ego."
Sebastian turned to the board. "All those in favor of the immediate termination of Eleanor Carter’s position, raise your hands."
One by one, every single board member in the room raised their hand.
Eleanor stood frozen, her eyes wide with disbelief as her world collapsed around her. "You... you can't do this to me... I am your mother!"
"You stopped being my mother the day you stole my children," Sebastian whispered. "Security, escort Mrs. Carter out of the building. And make sure the press outside gets a good look at her."
Two heavy-set security guards stepped forward, grasping Eleanor’s arms. As she was dragged out of the boardroom, her hysterical screams echoed down the hallway: "You’ll regret this, Sebastian! She will never take you back! You’ll be alone forever!"
When the heavy doors clicked shut, the boardroom fell into silence.
Sebastian stood before the remaining board members, then slowly turned toward me.
"Hannah," he said, stepping closer to me, ignoring the staring executives. "The board will vote to transfer complete ownership of the Carter Foundation’s educational wing to Little Harvest Kitchen. A thirty-million-dollar endowment. No strings attached."
I looked at him, unblinking. "Do you think money fixes this, Sebastian?"
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"No," he said softly, his voice breaking. "Money can't buy back five years of missed bedtime stories. It can't buy back holding my babies when they cried. But it’s a start. I want to earn the right to even ask for your forgiveness."
I took a deep breath, looking him straight in the eyes. "If you want to earn anything, Sebastian, you start by taking a paternity test tomorrow morning. Not for court. Not for the press. But because my children deserve to know the truth."
