He Left Me For His Pregnant Ex, So I Took Everything Chapter 11

He Left Me For His Pregnant Ex, So I Took Everything Chapter 11

She choked.

The vote began.

One. Two.

The final result came in.

Passed.

Applause filled the room. Not thunderous, but clear enough.

Mrs. Vance stood. “I object!”

Lawyer Davis said, “You are not a shareholder.”

She pointed at me. “What makes you qualified to be chairwoman?”

I stood at the head of the table.

“Sixty-seven percent ownership.”

“The first round of capital came from the Stirlings.”

“And I can keep this company alive.”

Ruby suddenly spoke up. “And Garrett? He gave everything to Garrison Group for years, and you just take it away?”

I said, “I took a position. Not his life.”

Garrett finally looked up. “Ruby, stop.”

Ruby couldn’t believe it. “You’re defending her?”

Garrett said, “I’m trying to hold on to the last shred of dignity.”

Mrs. Vance slapped the table. “What good is dignity? She’s stomped all over the Vances!”

I looked at her calmly. “Mrs. Vance, dignity isn’t given—it’s kept.”

That landed. Mrs. Vance sank back into her chair like the wind had been knocked out of her.

As the meeting ended, Mrs. Harrington passed by me.

“Scarlett Stirling, your day will come.”

I said, “Take a number.”

She walked off fuming.

Ruby didn’t leave.

She looked at me and said quietly, “I still have one last card.”

I asked, “The baby?”

Panic flickered across her face.

I smiled. “Then you’d better hold on tight.”

Ruby’s final play was pure tears.

She showed up at my studio with the baby and a pack of society wives, blocking the entrance.

She held the child, sobbing.

“Scarlett Stirling, you’ve taken the company—why are you still tormenting us?”

I stood inside the door. “What exactly am I doing to you?”

“You made Garrett audit me. You turned Mrs. Vance against me. You made the whole Vance family look down on me.”

I asked, “Didn’t you do that yourself?”

Someone in the crowd said, “Ms. Stirling, the baby is so young. Don’t go too far.”

I looked at that person. “Do you know what actually happened?”

She didn’t answer.

Ruby jumped in. “Scarlett, I know you hate me for taking Garrett. But I’ve stopped fighting you. I just want my child to have a stable home.”

I said, “Ruby, you’re not done fighting. You’re just losing.”

Her face went white.

I continued, “If you really cared about your child, you wouldn’t drag him into adult battles.”

She choked out, “How can you say that? I’m his mother. I can’t watch someone destroy his father.”

I pulled out a printed page. “Do you recognize this?”

Ruby’s eyes darted away.

I handed it to Summer.

Summer read aloud: [If you give me fifty million dollars, I will take the child and leave Garrett Vance, and I promise never to come back to the Vance family.]

The crowd buzzed.

Ruby shrieked, “I didn’t write that!”

I said, “You sent that message to Garrett’s assistant. The number is yours.”

“It was just venting!”

“Everything is ‘just venting’ with you. Company money was a misunderstanding. Crying at my door was desperation. Selling your child’s father was just venting.”

The society wives took a step back.

Ruby stood there, the baby in her arms, her face cycling through red and white.

Garrett arrived. He took the paper from Summer.

“You really sent this?”

Ruby shook her head, crying. “Garrett, don’t believe her. She’s always trying to tear us apart.”

Garrett looked at her. “We’re already torn apart.”

Ruby seemed not to have heard. “What did you say?”

Garrett said, “Ruby, stop making scenes.”

Her voice shot up. “You’re yelling at me for Scarlett?”

I said, “Garrett, take your people and leave.”

He looked at me and didn’t argue.

As Ruby was dragged away, she kept shouting, “Scarlett Stirling, you’ll regret this!”

I called back, “The Vances have said that too many times. Get new material.”

Garrett started looking into Ruby. Not for me—for himself.

On the third day, he came to me with a stack of documents.

“Scarlett.”

“Go on.”

“Ruby had close contact with someone named Christian Hayes before the baby was born.”

I flipped through it. Christian Hayes, Ruby’s college classmate, used to run a small company.

I asked, “What are you saying?”

Garrett’s face was grim. “The timeline doesn’t add up.”

Coming from him, that carried more weight than any piece of evidence.

I handed the file back. “That’s your family matter.”

He said quietly, “If the child isn’t mine…”

“That was your choice too.”

He had nothing to say to that.