Chapter 9 - THE FILE CALLED SEBASTIAN
The recovered microdrive contained more than Bellglass records.
Rosalie had created separate folders for every person involved.
Mercer.
Eleanor.
Lucian.
Facility directors.
Vale attorneys.
The largest folder carried Sebastian’s name.
He opened it alone.
The files included emails he had written after Gideon’s death.
Dismiss concerns quietly.
Avoid regulatory involvement.
Protect the foundation from unnecessary exposure.
Sebastian had not known people were being poisoned.
He had known employees were raising questions.
He ordered internal reviews instead of outside investigations.
Three nurses lost their jobs.
One laboratory technician was sued into bankruptcy.
A facility accountant withdrew her complaint after receiving threats from Vale attorneys.
Sebastian had never issued those threats personally.
His instructions made them possible.
Rosalie entered the library with a cane and a hospital aide.
She was still weak.
She refused to stay away while the family decided what the files meant.
Sebastian looked at her.
“You were right.”
“That sentence is smaller than the harm.”
“I know.”
“What will you do?”
“Resign.”
“That protects you from making harder decisions.”
He looked toward the folders.
“What do you want?”
“The truth released.”
“All of it?”
“Yes.”
“The company may collapse.”
“Then it was standing on people who deserved not to be crushed.”
Sebastian sat down.
“If we release patient names, we violate privacy.”
“We redact the victims.”
“We release executive decisions.”
“We provide unedited records to prosecutors.”
“And the employees?”
“Protect wages.”
“Freeze executive bonuses.”
“Sell family assets before cutting jobs.”
Theodore watched them.
Rosalie was not asking to inherit an empire unchanged.
She was asking to dismantle the system that made the empire possible.
Sebastian agreed.
They scheduled an emergency board meeting.
Before it began, Eleanor appeared through a secure video connection.
She sat inside a room Theodore did not recognize.
“You have always been theatrical, Rosalie.”
Rosalie looked at the screen.
“You placed me inside a coffin.”
“You forced my hand.”
“No.”
“You chose it.”
Eleanor smiled.
“Your father used to speak that way.”
“Look what principle gave him.”
Sebastian moved closer.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere the Vale name still matters.”
“It will not matter much longer.”
Eleanor’s smile faded.
“You would destroy your inheritance for strangers?”
Sebastian looked at the evidence.
“They stopped being strangers when our money paid for their deaths.”
Eleanor ended the call.
Minutes later, the Vale Foundation’s financial system began deleting records.
The attack came from the original conservatory server.
Eleanor had returned to the estate.
May you like
She was not trying to escape.
She intended to destroy the evidence and everyone who could explain it.
