Chapter 4 - The Final Bargain
Three days later, the storm had moved from the skies to the media.
The headlines were merciless. “Armand Dynasty Shaken: Sister Arrested in Multi-Million Dollar Trust Fraud, Captive Sister-in-Law.” The vanguard merger, as Rowan had predicted, was on life support, but he didn't care. He spent every hour of the day in their bedroom, working from a makeshift desk while Abigail rested.
On Monday morning, a call came through that Rowan couldn't ignore. It was Arthur Pendelton, the senior trustee of the Armand family trust and a man who had served as their father’s closest confidant.
Rowan put the call on speaker.
“Rowan,” Pendelton’s voice was dry, ancient, and heavy with the weight of corporate survival. “The board is in a panic. The vanguard group has given us a twenty-four-hour ultimatum. Either this scandal is resolved quietly, or they walk, taking forty percent of our market capitalization with them.”
“Then let them walk, Arthur,” Rowan said flatly. “My sister abused my wife and stole from our family. I am not burying this.”
“I’m not asking you to bury it,” Arthur sighed. “But Celeste’s legal team is offering a settlement. She will plead guilty to the financial charges and resign from all family boards immediately. In exchange, she wants the charges of coercive control and physical abuse dropped. She wants to serve her time in a minimum-security facility, with her trust fund intact after her release.”
Abigail, sitting up in bed, looked at Rowan. The injustice of the offer burned in her chest. Celeste wanted to buy her way out of the torment she had inflicted. She wanted to walk away with millions, her pride slightly bruised but her wealth secure.
“Tell her no,” Abigail said clearly.
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Mrs. Armand... if you go to trial, your entire life will be dragged through the mud. Celeste’s lawyers will paint you as an opportunist who targeted a wealthy family. They will question your mental stability during the pregnancy. It will be brutal.”
Rowan’s eyes flashed with a lethal light. “If they try to touch her character, Arthur, I will personally fund a civil suit that will strip Celeste of every single penny she has left, outside of the trust. I will dismantle her life block by block.”
“But the trust itself is protected by your father’s bylaws, Rowan,” Arthur warned. “Even with a criminal conviction, the principal of Celeste’s share cannot be revoked unless she is proven to have committed a hostile act against the family entity itself.”
Abigail’s eyes widened slightly as a realization struck her. She reached for the laptop on Rowan’s desk, her fingers moving quickly over the keys.
“Abby?” Rowan asked, watching her.
“Arthur,” Abigail said, her voice steady and sharp. “Does the bylaw define a 'hostile act' as any action that deliberately compromises the financial integrity of the holding company during an active merger negotiation?”
“Yes,” Arthur replied, sounding surprised. “Section 9, clause 4. But we have no proof she did this to sabotage the merger. She did it out of greed.”
“We do have proof,” Abigail said, pulling up a hidden folder in the decrypted files she had sent to the prosecutors. “Look at the dates of the transactions Celeste authorized. She didn't just transfer money to her personal accounts. She shorted the Armand holding company stock using a shell company registered in the Cayman Islands, forty-eight hours before she knew the audit would be leaked.”
Rowan stared at the screen, a slow, grim smile spreading across his face. “She was betting against her own family. She wanted the merger to fail so she could buy back the devalued stock at a discount.”
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“She didn't just steal,” Abigail whispered. “She tried to destroy the entire empire.”
Arthur was silent for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice had lost all its warmth. “I will call her attorneys. There will be no bargain.”
