Chapter 6 - SEBASTIAN’S ACCOUNT
Sebastian denied downloading the footage.
The access log showed his credentials, his office address, and a successful security token.
He had been in the hospital beside me when the transfer occurred.
Someone used a backup token stored inside Vance Meridian headquarters.
Michael Trent controlled executive access recovery.
Sebastian called him immediately.
Rachel stopped the call before it connected.
“Do not warn him.”
“He has access to my account.”
“Which means he may also have access to anything you send while angry.”
Sebastian placed his phone on the table.
For a man raised to believe power meant immediate action, waiting looked physically painful.
The police secured his office.
They found the backup token inside a locked drawer.
The drawer showed no damage.
Michael possessed a master key.
He claimed the key was used by security staff.
The footage had already been copied to an encrypted drive.
That drive was missing.
A second file remained on Sebastian’s server.
It was an edited clip.
I stood beside the banquet table refusing food.
A guest asked whether I cared about the baby.
I answered, “I will not put that inside my body.”
The clip ended before anyone saw raw oysters on the fork.
A second segment showed me on my knees beneath the table.
The angle hid Eleanor’s hand.
I appeared to collect food scraps voluntarily.
The final segment showed Sebastian flipping the table.
The proposed caption read:
PREGNANT WIFE’S BREAKDOWN TRIGGERS HUSBAND’S VIOLENT EPISODE.
The file creation date was two weeks before the luncheon.
They had named the outcome before recording it.
Sebastian walked to the window.
“I made it easy.”
“You didn’t edit the footage.”
“I kept office systems inside the family structure. I let Michael handle access because he had worked for Dad.”
“Your mother abused me. That does not mean you caused every action around her.”
“But I kept saying she would never go this far.”
“Yes.”
He looked at me.
“You needed me to believe you before there was proof.”
“Yes.”
The word remained between us.
No easy forgiveness.
No denial of love.
The next morning, Dr. Crane withdrew his opinion and reported Eleanor to the medical board for misrepresenting the purpose of the review.
He admitted accepting seventy-five thousand dollars through a consulting company.
The payment came from the Vance Continuity Foundation.
The foundation’s stated purpose was maternal and infant health.
My humiliation had been funded as a health initiative.
Rachel requested the foundation’s records.
Eleanor tried to dissolve it before the court hearing.
The emergency filing failed.
The account statements showed more than payments to Dr. Crane and Crown Meridian.
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They showed monthly transfers labeled HEIR PREPARATION.
The first payment began three days after my ultrasound confirmed I was carrying a boy.
