Chapter 3: The Boardroom Coup
The revelations of the ballroom spread through the American financial sector like wildfire. By 9:00 AM the next morning, the gates of the Belmont Estate were surrounded by news vans from CNBC, Forbes, and Wall Street reporters. The stock of Belmont Shipping was in a volatile freefall, dropping twelve percent in pre-market trading.
Inside the corporate headquarters in Manhattan, the atmosphere was suffocating. Eleanor sat at the head of the massive boardroom table, her attorneys flanking her like a shield. Across from her sat Clara, flanked by a team of high-powered federal probate lawyers, and beside her stood Liam Vance—now legally recognized as Liam Belmont.
"This is an outrage," Eleanor’s lead attorney argued, slamming a fist on the table. "Even if the DNA is valid, the statute of limitations on challenging Arthur Belmont’s estate passed decades ago! The assets belong entirely to Eleanor and Ethan."
Liam stepped forward, tossing a heavy, encrypted flash drive onto the center of the table. He looked identical to the late Arthur Belmont, a fact that Eleanor had desperately tried to ignore for three years by forcing him to work remotely from the international offices.
"We aren't just challenging the estate based on biology, Eleanor," Liam said, his voice deep and authoritative. "We are challenging it on the grounds of fraud and grand larceny. We found the offshore accounts in Switzerland that you used to systematically divert funds away from my mother’s legal trust. And more importantly, we found the original, unamended will that my father signed three days before his death."
Clara smiled, tapping the iPad in front of her. The screen lit up, displaying a digitized copy of Arthur Belmont's true final wishes.
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"Arthur knew you were trying to erase his first child," Clara said smoothly. "So he hid the original will with his personal attorney in London. It states clearly that if any attempt was made to falsify the lineage, the entire shipping empire would automatically default to his firstborn son, Liam, leaving you with nothing but the clothes on your back."
Eleanor’s hands began to shake uncontrollably. She looked at her son, Ethan, silently begging him to say something, to use his position to save them. But Ethan remained silent, staring at his older brother with a mixture of awe and profound sadness for the lies their mother had woven around their lives.
