Ms. CEO’s Baby Daddy Is the Merchant of Death – Episode 38
The confession gave Scarlett a motive but not enough proof. Bennett’s attorney claimed the intruder invented the story for leniency. The forged amendment still stood between Scarlett and Asterion.
Cypher searched the encrypted drive for creation records. Evelyn had embedded invisible serial markers in every legal document she signed. Bennett’s amendment carried no marker.
Scarlett presented the discovery to the court. A neutral examiner confirmed the missing code and found microscopic printing patterns linked to a Whitmore document laboratory. The amendment was declared fraudulent.
The judge froze Bennett’s claimed shares and restored Scarlett’s full operational authority. Employees watching from Asterion headquarters erupted in applause. Scarlett allowed herself one breath of relief.
Bennett refused defeat. He released edited recordings suggesting Scarlett had stolen Aegis from Hayes Group and handed it to Connor. Protesters gathered outside Asterion before the ruling could stabilize its finances.
Scarlett addressed them directly. She published her mother’s civilian specifications and invited independent scientists to verify their purpose. Transparency deprived Bennett of another secret he could distort.
Connor watched her command the crowd without protection from his name. He understood why she had rejected his offers to purchase victory. She was rebuilding trust no fortune could manufacture.
Richard admitted that Connor had chosen a stronger partner than he deserved. Connor answered that this was the first sensible thing his father had said in years. Their humor almost resembled reconciliation.
Cypher recovered four years of Whitmore transport logs. The same vehicles appeared near Scarlett’s chase, Summer’s school, the Hayes estate, and locations used by Voss. Bennett had maintained one network for every campaign.
Payments connected him to the men who drugged Scarlett, the guards who withheld Summer’s inhaler, and the companies that sabotaged Asterion. Cross had been a powerful partner, but Bennett had provided the money.
Scarlett struggled with the scale of it. Bennett had called his obsession love while engineering suffering around her. Every crisis was meant to narrow her choices until only he remained.
Connor wanted to shield Summer from the evidence. Scarlett insisted their daughter deserved an age-appropriate truth: Bennett had hurt people and would be stopped. Secrecy had already damaged their family enough.
Summer asked whether bad men always went to jail. Connor said not always, which was why brave people had to tell the truth. She placed her repaired watch on the table and said she could be brave too.
The final link required testimony from Stephen. His signature appeared on shell-company transfers, and he had attended meetings with Bennett before the attack. Without him, Bennett could blame dead employees and missing records.
Police brought Stephen to Asterion under guard. He denied knowing about murder and insisted he had only agreed to pressure Scarlett into marriage. Shame appeared only when he learned Summer had also been targeted.
Scarlett offered no forgiveness. She promised only that truthful testimony might prevent Bennett from hurting anyone else. Stephen asked whether she would still consider him her father afterward.
She answered that biology had never been the question. A father protected his child when protection cost him something. Stephen had one final opportunity to understand that.
He agreed to testify and surrendered a private ledger Bennett believed destroyed. It listed Whitmore payments, corrupt officials, and a reference to the original order against Scarlett.
Before investigators could copy it, the transport carrying Stephen was struck at an intersection. Armed men extracted him in less than thirty seconds. The ledger disappeared with him.
Scarlett received a live video from Bennett. Stephen knelt bound inside an unknown building while Bennett held the ledger over a flame and told her to choose between the evidence and the father who had betrayed her.
