Chapter 9 - The DNA Test and the Will
"She's not signing anything," Sebastian said.
His voice wasn't loud. It wasn't frantic. It was completely calm—the terrifying, icy calm of a general about to detonate the entire battlefield.
Arthur frowned slightly, his arrogance flickering for a fraction of a second. "Sebastian, don't be a fool. You are bound to the Sterling merger. The board meets at noon. If you align yourself with this destitute girl, you will be stripped of the chairmanship before lunch."
Sebastian reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He unlocked it, tapping the screen twice, and held it up to Arthur’s face.
"Look at that, Grandfather."
Arthur’s eyes narrowed as he read the screen. Slowly, the color began to drain from the old man's face.
"Where did you get that?" Arthur whispered, his voice losing its polished composure.
"You aren't the only one who keeps dossiers," Sebastian said, his lips curling into a ruthless smile. "Two years ago, when I suspected you had something to do with Maya’s disappearance, I hired a private forensic accounting firm in Zurich. It took them eighteen months, but they found it: the offshore shell accounts in the Cayman Islands where you diverted three hundred million dollars from the family trust to bribe regulatory officials during the 2018 antitrust investigation."
Arthur gripped his cane so hard his knuckles turned blue. "You wouldn't dare leak that. It would crash Vale stock by forty percent!"
"I don't give a damn about the stock," Sebastian snarled, taking a menacing step forward until his face was inches from Arthur's. "I would burn Vale Enterprises to the ground, salt the earth, and sell the ashes if it meant keeping my children safe from you."
Sebastian snatched the custody petition Arthur had thrown onto the table, ripping it in half, then into quarters, and throwing the scraps right into the old man's face.
"Here is what is going to happen," Sebastian commanded, his voice echoing through the hospital room. "At ten o'clock this morning, we are holding a global press conference at Vale Tower. I will announce the existence of my three legitimate children with Maya. We will present the DNA paternity results, which Dr. Harrison’s lab has already expedited."
Arthur’s breath hitched. "The Sterling merger—"
"The Sterling merger is dead," Sebastian declared mercilessly. "And so is your career. If you try to file that custody petition, or if Clarissa takes one step toward Maya, those Swiss bank records go directly to the Southern District of New York. You will spend your remaining years dying in a federal penitentiary."
Arthur stared at his grandson, realizing for the first time that the protégé he had spent thirty years shaping into a ruthless weapon had just turned that weapon directly against his throat.
"You're destroying everything I built," Arthur choked out, his chest heaving beneath his tailored vest.
May you like
"No," Sebastian said, pointing toward the door. "You destroyed it the day you tried to erase my family. Now get the hell out of my sight."
Arthur stood frozen for three agonizing seconds, his face purple with rage. Then, turning on his heel without another word, he hobbled out of the room, his security team scrambling to follow him.
