CHAP 9 — OLIVIA TAKES THE CHAIR
The independent capacity evaluation took three hours.
Olivia answered every question.
Memory.
Judgment.
Stress.
Pregnancy.
Grief.
Medication history.
At the end, the evaluator closed her notebook.
“You understand people will interpret calmness as calculation.”
Olivia smiled.
“They interpreted grief as insanity.”
The evaluator almost smiled back.
Forty-eight hours later, the report concluded Olivia was fully capable of exercising fiduciary authority.
The court lifted the temporary delay.
Olivia's voting rights transferred immediately.
Sebastian learned while sitting in a Hale Meridian board meeting.
Olivia arrived fourteen minutes later.
No father.
No legal entourage.
Just Evelyn and one assistant.
The boardroom became silent.
Sebastian stared at her.
“You can't be here.”
Olivia placed her documents on the table.
“I own voting authority over fifty-one percent of the company.”
“That option is disputed.”
“Then dispute it.”
She took the chair at the opposite end.
For six years, Sebastian had brought her to company parties.
Never board meetings.
Now every director watched her.
Olivia did not fire Sebastian.
That surprised him.
Instead, she proposed an independent forensic audit.
Approved.
A special committee.
Approved.
Preservation of all executive communications.
Approved.
Temporary restrictions on extraordinary transfers.
Approved.
Sebastian voted against each motion.
It did not matter.
Afterward he followed her into the hallway.
“You're enjoying this.”
Olivia turned.
“No.”
That answer seemed to bother him.
“You think you're your mother now?”
“No.”
“You don't know what she was.”
Olivia stepped closer.
“Neither do you.”
For one instant his expression changed.
Fear.
Tiny.
There.
She had guessed correctly.
He knew more about Eleanor.
And he was afraid Olivia knew it.
That evening Sebastian sent a message.
DINNER. PUBLIC PLACE. NO LAWYERS.
Olivia showed Evelyn.
“Absolutely not.”
Olivia disagreed.
She went.
The restaurant was crowded.
Safe.
Sebastian looked tired.
He did not mention Camille.
He asked about the baby.
Olivia almost stood up.
Then he said, “Your mother was going to destroy your father.”
Olivia remained seated.
“Interesting.”
“She found more than Daniel.”
“What?”
Sebastian leaned closer.
“Jonathan moved money too.”
Olivia felt a flash of doubt.
Sebastian saw it.
He smiled.
“Your father isn't protecting you, Olivia. He's protecting himself.”
“Do you have proof?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
“Give up control of Hale Meridian.”
Olivia laughed.
The old Sebastian would have expected outrage.
This one looked desperate.
“You're bargaining with my mother's death.”
“I’m bargaining with information.”
“Then your price is too high.”
She stood.
Sebastian grabbed her wrist.
Not hard.
But enough.
Olivia looked down at his hand.
He released her immediately.
“I'm trying to save you.”
She leaned close.
“No, Sebastian.”
Her voice was barely audible.
“You're trying to figure out how much I know.”
Then she walked away.
Sebastian sat alone.
Olivia reached the car.
Evelyn was waiting.
“Well?”
“He took it.”
“The bait?”
Olivia nodded.
During dinner, Olivia had mentioned one false detail.
She said Eleanor's missing ledger had been found in a storage unit in Connecticut.
No ledger existed.
By midnight, someone broke into the storage facility.
Security cameras captured the man.
He worked for Daniel Whitmore.
And in his car, police found a key.
It belonged to a private archive box registered eleven years earlier.
The owner:
May you like
Stephen Hale.
Sebastian's father.
