I looked directly at Ronald.
“Mr. Cobb found her medical file and attempted to use it to extort money, influence, and corporate credibility from me.”
Ronald stood.
“That’s not true.”
Sienna pressed play on her phone.
His recorded voice filled the room.
“Unstable heiress hides dead child. Secret trauma concealed from husband. Board forced to review fitness. It writes itself.”
No one moved.
Priscilla sat down as though her bones had dissolved.
Ronald’s face emptied.
It was not guilt.
It was the horror of being seen clearly.
Kessler pushed back his chair.
“I’m out,” he said.
One investor followed.
Then another.
Then the last.
Within seconds, Ronald’s rescue had vanished.
He turned on me, eyes wild.
“You ruined me.”
I looked at him for a long moment.
“No,” I said. “I finally stopped financing the illusion that you were worth saving.”
By noon, Cobb Meridian’s largest lender had frozen its line of credit.
