Chapter 6 - The Boardroom Betrayal
The encrypted files revealed the truth.
Arthur Sterling had discovered that several members of his company had created a secret organization called Meridian.
Meridian controlled shell corporations across multiple countries.
Its purpose was to secretly acquire portions of Sterling Global.
But Arthur had found something worse.
Renee's medical records had been accessed hundreds of times without authorization.
The person accessing them was Victor Hale.
Renee finally understood why Victor always seemed to know exactly when she was weakest.
He had been watching her.
But the greatest betrayal came next.
The original donor database showed that Renee had a perfect genetic match.
Her biological mother.
Renee froze.
Her mother had supposedly died when Renee was six.
But the database listed her as alive.
Living under another name.
Daniel and Renee tracked her down.
She was living quietly in Vermont.
When Renee finally met her, she discovered a truth that shattered everything.
Her mother hadn't abandoned her.
Arthur had forced her to disappear.
He believed Meridian was hunting his family.
He had hidden Renee's mother to protect her.
But there was something even worse.
Renee's mother had been the person who provided the stem cells that could save her.
The doctors could perform the transplant.
But her mother had been hiding because Victor had threatened to kill her if she ever contacted Renee.
Renee broke down.
For years she had believed she had been abandoned twice.
First by her mother.
Then by Marcus.
Now she understood that both had been trying to protect her.
But Marcus had one more secret.
He had never stopped loving Renee.
He had spent months gathering evidence against Victor.
And when Daniel confronted him, Marcus admitted the truth.
“I left because Victor threatened to kill her.”
Daniel asked:
“Why didn't you tell her?”
“Because I knew she would come looking for me.”
“Did you love her?”
Marcus looked toward Renee.
“I still do.”
Daniel realized something.
Marcus wasn't Renee's enemy.
He was another victim.
The real enemy was much closer.
Victor had arranged everything.
The medical sabotage.
The board coup.
The disappearance of Thomas Reed.
Even the threats against Daniel.
But Victor didn't know that Daniel had already copied the evidence.
The final confrontation would happen at Sterling Global's annual shareholder meeting.
Renee decided to attend.
Even if it killed her.
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She wanted Victor to believe she was weak.
And she wanted him to make one final mistake.
