Library

Home / Her Baby, My Name, Their Heir / Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

Lahat ng Kabanata ng Her Baby, My Name, Their Heir: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

12 Kabanata

Chapter 1

Serena's expression shifted the moment she heard me.She reached out and blocked my path."Adrian, what exactly do you mean?"I stopped."The engagement is canceled."The agreement is void."Her fingers tightened around the edge of the table."This is the Carter-Sutton engagement banquet."All our guests are here. So is the press."If you back out now, have you thought about what both families will lose?"I glanced at her stomach."You're carrying Lucas Grant's child."You expect me to give him my name."And you want that child to inherit both the Carter and Sutton families."Now you're asking me about losses?"Lucas walked over with a wineglass in hand."Mr. Carter, Serena is still willing to marry you."She's even willing to let the child take your surname."That's already more than generous to the Carter family."You're a man."Can't you be a little more generous?"Serena's cousin Miles Sutton joined in."It's only raising Serena's child."The Carter family ha

Chapter 2

Clara stared at me for several seconds."Adrian, don't joke with me.""I'm not joking."She lowered her eyes to the report in front of her."But I don't have anything."Everyone in the Sutton family was fighting over inheritance.Clara was the only one who genuinely believed she had nothing.I flipped to the last page of her report."Phase Three Risk Review—Horizon Port Project."You wrote this?"She nodded."No one asked me to."I noticed something strange in the cash flow from the first two phases, so I recalculated it myself."Her tone was calm, almost as if the report had nothing to do with her.But her fingertips were pressing so hard against the paper that the edges had gone white.She wasn't blind to opportunity.She simply wasn't used to putting her own name in front of anyone.Across the room, Serena's expression changed completely."Clara."Her voice sharpened."Do you even know what kind of event this is?"Clara's shoulders drew in slightly, like a small

Chapter 3

Lucas looked at me."Relax, Mr. Carter."Clara is young."If she wants to write reports, let everyone enjoy them."Managing Sutton Group takes more than knowing how to calculate a few spreadsheets."I nodded."You're right."That's probably why you can't calculate anything and decided to pass the risk to me instead."His smile froze.Serena held her stomach.Her voice trembled."Adrian, do you really have to do this?"You weren't like this before.""Before?"I looked at her."Before, you said you hated business marriages."I blocked three board proposals for you."You said you didn't want to take over the Horizon Port project."I had the Carter team backstop Sutton Group for two years."You told me Lucas was only a friend."I never investigated."I paused."See?"I really wasn't very smart back then."Her eyes immediately filled.She had always been good at this.Back someone into a corner first.Then cry and ask why they weren't being gentle.Charles finall

Chapter 4

Charles looked over the newly arrived group and returned to his seat at the head of the table."Everyone is here."Adrian, sign the agreement in front of all of them."Serena remains the Sutton heir."The Carter-Sutton partnership continues unchanged."I didn't even look at the agreement."I'm not here to fight over your heir."He frowned."Then what does bringing Clara to the head table mean?""It means the Carter family is done placing resources under someone who can't read a project."Serena's face went pale."Adrian, are you determined to destroy everything?"I looked at her."I already heard who the father is."Now everyone else should hear where the project's money went."Lucas's fingers tightened."Those consulting fees were normal expenses."Don't smear me because you're canceling an engagement.""I'm not interested in smearing you."I pushed a transfer list onto the table."Four delivery sign-offs are missing from Finance."Two other payments went to your

Chapter 5

Clara stared at the document in front of her.For a long time, she didn't move.Her cheeks were still flushed.Her fingers were no longer shaking."Adrian, I can't sign this.""Why?""I only wrote one report.""One report that can keep Sutton Group from losing six hundred million."I pushed the document an inch closer."This isn't charity."She pressed her lips together."But I don't have experience managing a project.""Serena does?"She froze.I turned toward Charles."You said managing a project takes more than understanding a few tables."Well, the accounts are clear now."Let's see who is willing to sign their name under the consequences."His face had become almost black with anger."Adrian, this is a unilateral change to our cooperation."The Sutton family will not recognize it.""The Carter family is only changing Carter rights and authorizations."I lifted my chin."Whether Sutton Group approves or not has nothing to do with my right to stop funding you.

Chapter 6

Early the next morning, the Carter Group conference room was full of Horizon Port managers.Everyone looked at Clara differently.Some were surprised, some skeptical, and some clearly assumed she was only a temporary figurehead.Clara turned her laptop toward them."Phase Three cannot continue paying under the current plan."The project manager frowned."Chairman Sutton approved that plan."It's been running for two months.""That's exactly why it has to stop."She opened a table."The steel-supply contract is for eight thousand tons."Warehouse records show only fifty-two hundred."The room went quiet."Where are the other twenty-eight hundred tons?"No one answered.The manager flipped through his file."There are signed warehouse receipts.""The person who signed them wasn't the warehouse manager."Clara switched to the next page."He was a temporary employee for an outsourced company."And his signature appears on documents dated before he even started working t

Chapter 7

The story spread faster than any project report.By three that afternoon, several articles were already online.Every headline focused on me humiliating a pregnant woman.None mentioned Lucas.None mentioned the inheritance agreement.The photos all showed Serena with one hand over her belly.The comments were full of people calling me cruel.When Megan Hollis, Carter Group's PR director, brought the coverage into my office, Dad was reading board documents.Megan asked, "Should we release a statement?"I flipped through two pages."No.""But the story will keep growing.""Let it."She looked surprised.I pushed another file toward her."Prepare the audit summary for Horizon Port.""When do we release it?""After they finish talking."That night, Serena sent me an old ribbon-cutting photo.She was holding my arm.The caption read, "I only wanted to give my child a home."I locked my phone without replying.The next morning, Sutton Group held a press conference.I

Chapter 8

The original payment records came from the port warehouse.The warehouse supervisor, Frank Dolan, was too afraid to come to Carter Group in person.He had someone deliver the documents to reception.Clara opened the brown envelope.Inside were three warehouse logbooks.The covers were dusty.The corners were worn."Why doesn't Finance have these?"She asked.I opened the final book.Received quantities, vehicle plates, loading and unloading times—everything was there.Two days had been circled in red."Only fourteen trucks actually entered on these two days."Clara pointed to the payment sheet."Finance recorded thirty-six.""What's the difference?""Twenty-eight hundred tons of steel." Exactly the shortfall she'd identified that morning.She photographed and archived all three logbooks.Then she called Frank.He remained silent for a long time."I only receive deliveries.""Who told you to alter the records?""Someone from Director Sutton's office.""Which Direc

Chapter 9

The Sutton family board met three days later.There was only one item on the agenda: whether Serena's status as heir should be suspended.Charles had already released a statement claiming I was using the Carter-Sutton partnership to interfere in Sutton family affairs.On the day of the meeting, Serena wore a loose white dress and sat beside the chair at the head of the table.Her pregnancy was impossible to hide now.She also looked more exhausted than she had at the engagement banquet.Helen kept pouring water for her.Lucas sat in the final row with a legal notice beside his hand.Charles tapped the table."This is an internal Sutton Group meeting."Adrian isn't a Sutton director."He doesn't need to participate."I moved the chair beside me toward Clara."She does."Clara looked up."Me?""You're the authorized project manager and the shareholder representative for the junior side of the family.""I didn't receive a meeting notice.""That's why I brought one for yo

Chapter 10

Three days after the Sutton review began, a legal notice from Lucas arrived at Carter Group.It claimed that although his and Serena's child wasn't biologically mine, the engagement agreement created an expectation of future Carter income and inheritance.The letter also demanded compensation for cancellation of the engagement and child support after birth.Dad finished reading it and asked one question."How do you want to handle this?""Using their own logic."I placed the agreement from the engagement banquet on the table."First, establish that it never took effect."Daniel pulled up the ballroom footage.Serena pushed the agreement toward me.Lucas openly identified himself as the father.I never signed.No Carter seal was applied.Daniel nodded."No contract was formed."The inheritance arrangement has no legal effect.""What about support for the child?""The biological father identified himself publicly."I looked at Lucas's letter."Let him take responsibili

PREV

NEXT

I-scan ang code para mabasa sa App

DMCA.com Protection Status