Chapter 5 - The Corporate Strike(Focus: The annual shareholder meeting; Adam confronts Eleanor in front of the board and the press; the revealing of the corrupt doctor.)
The annual shareholder meeting of Carter Global Holdings was held in the grand ballroom of the Drake Hotel. The room was packed with hundreds of wealthy investors, institutional fund managers, and rows of television cameras.
Eleanor Carter sat at the center of the executive stage, dressed in a flawless, white designer suit, looking like a queen who had just survived a minor rebellion. She was smiling, chatting with the senior board members, completely confident that her media campaign had successfully discredited Lily.
At exactly 10:00 AM, the lights in the ballroom suddenly dimmed.
The primary presentation screen on the stage, which was supposed to display the annual financial projections, flickered to life. But it didn't show numbers.
It showed a high-definition video of the apartment hallway.
The crowd fell into a shocked, immediate silence as they watched Eleanor Carter, dressed in the same white suit, using a stolen key to open the door of my apartment, followed by a man carrying a black medical bag—Dr. Gerald Sterling, a prominent, high-society physician who had been struck off the medical register in three states for illegal medical practices.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Eleanor gasped, standing up from her leather chair, her face contorted with sudden, manic rage. "Turn that off! Technical team, cut the feed immediately!"
But the doors at the back of the ballroom opened, and I walked down the center aisle, accompanied by Daniel and two federal investigators from the Department of Justice.
"The feed is locked, Eleanor," I said, my voice amplified by the room's sound system. "And so are your bank accounts."
I walked onto the stage, throwing a heavy blue folder onto the executive podium.
"Gerald Sterling has already been arrested," I announced to the stunned crowd of shareholders. "He confessed to federal prosecutors three hours ago. He admitted that you paid him one hundred thousand dollars to administer a chemical termination drug to my wife without her consent. He gave us the financial transaction records, the bank routing numbers, and the text messages from your personal phone coordinating the assault."
A loud, collective gasp echoed through the ballroom. The television cameras turned toward Eleanor, their bright lights capturing the raw, naked terror on her face as her carefully crafted mask of elegance completely shattered.
"You're a liar!" she screamed, her voice shrill and desperate, her hands shaking as she gripped the edges of the podium. "You're trying to ruin this company! You're letting that common girl destroy your father's name!"
"This company doesn't belong to you, Eleanor," Daniel Vance said, stepping forward with a certified court order. "The Grandchild Succession Clause has been triggered by the formal medical confirmation of the heir's safety. As of 9:00 AM today, seventy percent of the voting shares have been transferred to Adam Carter. By executive order of the new majority shareholder, you are hereby stripped of your position on the board of directors, your employment is terminated for moral turpitude, and you are permanently banned from entering any Carter corporate property."
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The board members, realizing that their own financial survival depended on siding with me, stood up one by one, turning their backs on Eleanor.
"The board supports the resolution," the senior trustee said, not even looking at Eleanor as she stood there, completely alone under the glare of the television lights.
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