Chapter 4 - The War of Public OpinionThey thought she was a helpless diner waitress; they didn't realize she was the only woman who held the Don of Manhattan's heart.
At 8:00 AM the following morning, the grand lobby of the Coleman Enterprises Headquarters on Fifth Avenue was packed with over two hundred reporters, news cameras, and financial analysts.
The media frenzy was unprecedented. The stock market was set to open in one hour, and rumors were flying that Wyatt Coleman had lost his mind over a scam artist from New Hampshire.
In the green room backstage, Hazel sat on a leather sofa, holding Daisy on her lap. Daisy wore a sweet velvet dress that Wyatt’s team had sourced that morning, her brown curls tied with a small white ribbon.
Wyatt stood near the window, adjusting his silk tie. He walked over, kneeling in front of Hazel.
"You don't have to go out there if you don't want to," Wyatt said softly, touching her cheek. "I can handle them alone."
Hazel looked at him, then down at Daisy, who was happily playing with Wyatt’s silver cufflinks.
"For fifteen months, I let people in my town whisper behind my back," Hazel said, her voice growing stronger by the second. "I let them pretend my daughter was a mistake. I am done hiding, Wyatt. I am going out there with you."
Wyatt smiled—a proud, fierce smile. "That's my girl."
Ten minutes later, the double doors opened.
Wyatt walked onto the stage, holding Hazel’s hand firmly in his left hand, while holding Daisy securely on his right hip.
The room exploded into blinding camera flashes and deafening shouting.
"Mr. Coleman! Is this woman extortionist Hazel Campbell?!"
"Is the child really yours?!"
"Are you canceling the Sterling Group merger?!"
"Did your mother accuse this woman of fraud?!"
Wyatt stepped up to the podium, adjusting the microphone. He waited until the noise died down, his dark eyes sweeping over the crowd with absolute, icy authority.
"Fifteen months ago," Wyatt began, his deep voice echoing clearly through every microphone, "I left New Hampshire promising the woman I loved that I would return as soon as my company's legal issues were settled."
The room went dead silent.
"What I did not know," Wyatt continued, his tone hardening like diamond, "was that my mother, Evelyn Coleman, illegally intercepted a letter sent to me by Hazel Campbell. A letter informing me that she was pregnant with my child."
Gasps erupted through the gallery. Reporters frantically scribbled on their pads.
"For fifteen months, my mother kept my daughter hidden from me," Wyatt declared, gesturing toward Daisy, who looked curiously at the flashing lights. "Yesterday, Evelyn Coleman drove to Pinewood, New Hampshire, and offered Hazel Campbell a blank check to make my daughter disappear forever."
Wyatt pulled a high-definition photograph from his jacket pocket and placed it on the podium projector. It showed the signed blank check sitting on Hazel’s wooden table, clearly displaying Evelyn Coleman’s signature.
The media gallery went completely wild. Cameras flashed like lightning.
"My daughter’s name is Daisy Coleman," Wyatt announced proudly, looking straight into the main network camera. "She is a legitimate heir to the Coleman estate. And as of 8:15 AM today, I have officially transferred fifty percent of my personal voting shares in Coleman Enterprises into a irrevocable trust managed solely by her mother, Hazel Campbell."
In the front row, two members of the board of directors gasped, their faces turning completely pale. By transferring those shares, Wyatt had effectively stripped his mother and the hostile board members of any legal power to remove him as CEO.
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"If the board wishes to vote on my position today," Wyatt concluded with a cold, triumphant smile, "they will have to negotiate directly with Hazel. Good morning."
Wyatt picked up Daisy, took Hazel’s hand, and walked off the stage, leaving the media world in absolute chaos.
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