Ms. CEO’s Baby Daddy Is the Merchant of Death – Episode 35
The emergency regulatory hearing began under armed guard. Bennett entered as though he were the injured party, surrounded by attorneys and Whitmore directors. Scarlett walked in with Connor but took the witness seat alone.
Bennett presented edited security footage from Dominion headquarters. The images showed Connor fighting guards, overriding systems, and standing beside the launch controls. Every frame that revealed Cross’s actions had been removed.
His expert claimed the city crisis was a failed power struggle. According to Bennett, Connor invented Cross’s conspiracy after losing board support. Asterion had therefore become financially inseparable from an illegal weapons network.
Connor’s anger sharpened, but Scarlett did not look toward him for rescue. She asked the expert to identify the source files. The man admitted they came from a Whitmore cybersecurity contractor.
Scarlett displayed the unedited archive distributed before Cross could destroy it. His confession and the redirected weapon filled the hearing room. Bennett’s narrative weakened, but his lawyers attacked the archive’s chain of custody.
Cypher testified that Whitmore shell companies funded C-7 operations. He mapped payments from Bennett’s subsidiaries to Voss and Cross. The transfers began four years earlier.
When regulators requested the underlying bank records, the accounts appeared empty. Transaction histories had been erased minutes before the hearing. Only someone with access to the stolen Aegis fragment could have moved that quickly.
Connor recognized Voss’s work. Bennett was no longer merely exploiting the crisis; he was still directing one of its architects. Yet suspicion without intact records could not support an arrest.
The panel refused Bennett’s demand for immediate ownership of Asterion, but it froze new Dominion partnerships pending investigation. Scarlett retained operational control while her company lost access to urgently needed capital.
Outside, reporters surrounded Connor. They asked whether he had killed for Dominion and whether his family was safe beside him. He answered only that Scarlett had spoken for herself.
Bennett requested a private settlement conference. Scarlett agreed because refusing would let him claim she had rejected negotiation. Connor entered with her despite Bennett’s objection.
Bennett offered to return Stephen’s shares and restore Asterion’s funding. In exchange, Scarlett would divorce Connor and spend one month publicly at Bennett’s side. He described the arrangement as correcting the future stolen from him.
Scarlett asked whether he believed ownership could become love. Bennett answered that love was simply loyalty enforced by consequences. He had spent four years teaching her that lesson.
The admission was not specific enough for prosecution, but Connor heard its meaning. His chair scraped back. Bennett smiled because provoking the Merchant of Death was part of the bargain.
Scarlett placed one hand over Connor’s fist. She told Bennett that no company, fortune, or threat would make her choose him. If Asterion fell, she would rebuild it from nothing before becoming his possession.
Bennett leaned closer and warned that next time Summer might not survive the consequences. Connor crossed the room before security could react and seized him by the throat.
He lifted Bennett against the wall, every old instinct demanding an ending. Bennett choked out that cameras were recording. One violent second would prove everything he had told the public.
Scarlett ordered Connor to look at her. She reminded him that Summer needed a father, not another feared man behind prison walls. His grip loosened.
Connor released Bennett and promised that Scarlett would defeat him in court. Afterward, Connor would personally ensure no hidden fortune or borrowed power could protect him. Bennett’s smile faded for the first time.
As they left, Scarlett’s phone received an invitation to the Reed gala and a new board notice. Bennett intended to announce his takeover before the city’s most powerful families, and Stephen Hayes would appear as his principal witness.
