Chapter 4 - The First Decision That Cost Sebastian Power
Clara stared at the forged signature.
“That isn’t mine.”
Rebecca enlarged it.
The shape was convincing because whoever created it had copied from a real signature.
Sebastian recognized the source.
Two years earlier, Clara had signed paperwork for a Bellamy Family Foundation scholarship event.
Eleanor had kept the originals.
Sebastian called for an emergency meeting of Bellamy Medical’s independent directors.
His mother demanded to attend.
He refused.
Julian called fourteen times.
Sebastian ignored every call.
By noon, the board had placed the Hartwell acquisition on temporary hold.
That decision immediately triggered a clause in Bellamy’s financing commitment.
If the delay lasted more than ten business days, the lending syndicate could reprice the loan.
The acquisition might become tens of millions of dollars more expensive.
Bellamy’s stock was private, but employees held equity units. Senior managers began calling.
The rumors started before lunch.
Family dispute.
CEO’s pregnant wife.
Compliance issue.
Acquisition at risk.
Sebastian could have contained the first stage internally.
Instead, he made a more costly choice.
He disclosed the suspected forged review to the audit committee.
Then he voluntarily removed himself from final transaction approval until investigators determined whether anyone used his family relationship to bypass controls.
Eleanor arrived at headquarters before the meeting ended.
Security refused to let her upstairs.
She called Sebastian from the lobby.
“You just told strangers your own mother might be involved in fraud.”
“I told the audit committee there is a forged document.”
“You are destroying your father’s company because Clara got her feelings hurt.”
Sebastian closed his eyes.
“My wife was on the floor while you threw food at her.”
“She provoked me.”
“She is eight months pregnant.”
“She has spent three years convincing you that this family is beneath her morality.”
Sebastian almost laughed.
Eleanor had spent three years insisting Clara was beneath the family.
Now she needed the opposite story.
“Who owns Great Lakes?”
A pause.
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you certify it?”
“I was told it supported foundation projects.”
“By whom?”
Eleanor ended the call.
Sebastian returned to Clara at the hotel that evening.
She had refused to go home.
He wanted to tell her Eleanor was barred from the house and the gate code had been changed.
Instead he said, “The deal is frozen.”
Clara nodded.
“That’s good.”
“It may cost the company a lot of money.”
She looked at him.
There was no sympathy in her expression.
He felt defensive.
Then ashamed for feeling defensive.
“You think I should’ve done it sooner.”
“I think you’re still telling me what protecting me costs you.”
The sentence stopped him.
Clara placed a pillow behind her back.
“I’m glad you froze the deal.”
Then she added quietly:
May you like
“I still don’t know whether I can trust you when the person hurting me is someone you love.”
The corporate crisis was becoming easier to understand than his marriage.
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