Chapter 18 - The Fatal Blow
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The humiliation was complete, but the execution wasn't finished.
Martin clicked the remote one final time. The screen split in two.
On the left was Evelyn’s original, conservative financial projection for the company’s slow, steady growth.
On the right was Ethan and Vanessa’s glitzy "Next Forty Years" Malibu presentation, the one they had used to court the investors sitting at this very table.
Martin highlighted a dozen paragraphs. They were identical. Word for word.
“As you can see,” Martin addressed the board members, “the operational methodology presented to you last week by Ethan Hale was entirely authored by Evelyn Hale.”
An angry murmur broke out among the investors. Stealing a wife's thunder was a messy domestic issue. Plagiarizing financial data to secure twelve million dollars in corporate funding was fraud.
“Wait,” Robert Keller said, squinting at the screen. “The labor cost projections for the Malibu project... they don't match Evelyn's historical data. They’re radically lower.”
Martin nodded grimly. “That is correct, Mr. Keller. The baseline data was artificially altered by Vanessa Cole’s team to make the Malibu project appear viable. Evelyn’s models proved Malibu would bankrupt us. Ethan chose to hide that data and present a falsified projection.”
Chaos erupted at the table. Chairs scraped. Investors began shouting questions.
Ethan leaped up, his hands raised defensively. “Dad, they’re twisting the narrative! This is a setup! Evelyn is just trying to sabotage me because our marriage is over!”
“Your marriage is over because you brought your mistress to my anniversary dinner,” Arthur roared over the noise, finally standing up to his full height. “But your career is over because you are a fraud, Ethan!”
Ethan recoiled as if he had been physically struck. He looked around the room, desperately seeking an ally. He found none. The men who had been laughing with him ten minutes ago were now glaring at him like he was a thief.
He looked at Vanessa. She was already staring at her phone, frantically typing, likely calculating how quickly she could distance her firm from this spectacular implosion.
Finally, Ethan looked down the table at Evelyn.
May you like
For the first time all evening, the arrogance had completely vanished from his eyes. He looked small. Pathetic. Terrified.
“Evelyn,” Ethan pleaded, his voice cracking. “Tell them. Tell them we worked on it together.”
