Chapter 11: The First Blow

The emergency Board meeting convened before noon the following day.

By then, Sebastian Group had already spent the better part of the morning trying to determine exactly how much damage one disastrous evening had caused.

The atmosphere inside the conference room was suffocating.

Dominic sat in his usual place, outwardly composed despite the stack of preliminary reports sitting untouched in front of him.

Around the table were people he’d known most of his life.

Relatives.

Longtime family allies.

Executives who’d watched him inherit a position he’d never particularly wanted but had nevertheless been expected to fill.

Today, however, no one seemed interested in treating him like family.

The Chairman finally broke the silence.

"How much of this is recoverable?"

The Chief Financial Officer opened the report in front of him.

"That depends entirely on what Vance Holdings does next."

Dominic’s expression tightened.

The CFO continued.

"If they proceed with the reviews announced last night, three joint developments will immediately be affected. We also have two financing facilities connected to projects involving both groups, along with several pending strategic partnerships that were negotiated under the assumption that the Sebastian-Vance relationship would remain stable."

"They can’t simply walk away from signed contracts," Dominic said.

"No," the Head of Legal replied. "But they can exercise whatever rights those contracts already give them."

Dominic looked toward him.

"And how much damage can that actually cause?"

"That’s what we’re currently reviewing."

Not exactly the reassuring answer he’d been expecting.

Another director slid a market report across the table.

"Our stock opened down six percent."

Dominic barely glanced at it.

"It’ll recover."

"Perhaps. But clients are already requesting clarification."

"The banks?"

"Waiting."

That word bothered him more than it should have.

Waiting for what?

For Alexander Vance to decide whether Sebastian Group was still worth doing business with?

Dominic leaned back.

"This is getting ridiculous. Alex and I had an argument."

Several people around the table exchanged looks.

The Chairman noticed.

"So you consider the engagement intact?"

Dominic hesitated.

"He was angry."

"That wasn’t my question."

Dominic’s jaw tightened.

"No formal termination documents have been exchanged."

One of the independent directors frowned.

"This isn’t a merger agreement, Dominic. He doesn’t need to serve you termination papers to stop being your fiancé."

A few gazes dropped toward the table.

Dominic’s expression hardened.

"We’ve known each other for years. He’ll calm down."

"And if he doesn’t?"

"He will."

The certainty in his voice did little to reassure anyone.

The Chairman folded his hands.

"Did Alexander threaten you last night?"

"No."

"Did he raise his voice?"

"...No."

"Did he make any demand in exchange for preserving the engagement?"

Dominic’s irritation grew with every question.

"No."

"Then what exactly did he say that convinced you that the engagement was still on?"

For the first time, Dominic didn’t answer immediately.

Unfortunately, several people in that room had probably already watched the videos.

There was little point pretending otherwise.

"He kept goin on he was protecting Vance Holdings, but I know him better."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! How many times do I have to point it out?"

Dominic looked down at the report in front of him.

"Besides, he just kept calling it..."

His jaw tightened.

"...risk management."

Silence.

No one laughed.

No one dismissed the phrase as something said during a lovers’ quarrel.

Because practically everyone else sitting around that table understood exactly what Alexander Vance had meant.

This was no longer about whether two men would eventually reconcile.

Confidence had been shaken.

Years of cooperation between the two groups had rested partly on the assumption that the alliance between their families was stable. Dominic’s actions had just given Vance Holdings a perfectly reasonable excuse to question that assumption.

The Chairman turned toward Legal.

"Do we have any indication that Vance Holdings has acted?"

"Not formally. But we received notice this morning that several pending matters are being placed under internal review."

Dominic looked up.

"Alex did that?"

"The notice came from Vance Holdings."

"That wasn’t what I asked."

"No," the lawyer replied carefully. "But Mr. Vance is their CEO."

Dominic went quiet.

Another Board member finally closed the folder in front of her.

"This is precisely the problem."

Dominic looked toward her.

"What is?"

"You."

His expression immediately darkened.

She continued before he could interrupt.

"You’re personally involved with the individual whose decisions now pose the greatest immediate uncertainty to this company. You’ve also demonstrated that you fundamentally underestimated the consequences of your actions."

"This is my private life."

"It stopped being private when it began affecting shareholder value."

Dominic scoffed.

"So what exactly are you suggesting?"

"That Sebastian Group needs leadership capable of responding to Vance Holdings without wondering whether every corporate decision is actually part of an argument between two former fiancés."

"Former?"

Dominic’s tone sharpened.

The Chairman cut in before the argument could go any further.

"Enough."

Silence returned.

He looked directly at Dominic.

"No one is discussing termination at this stage."

Dominic’s expression eased slightly.

"However, the Board cannot allow you to oversee the company’s response while your own conduct and potential conflicts are under review."

There it was.

Dominic stared at him.

One of the directors raised a hand.

"I move that Dominic Sebastian be temporarily relieved of his duties and authority as Chief Executive Officer pending completion of the Board’s internal review."

Another voice followed.

"I second the motion."

Dominic actually laughed.

Once.

"You’re suspending me because my fiancé threw a tantrum?"

"No," the Chairman said. "We’re suspending your authority because the Board has lost confidence in your ability to objectively manage the consequences."

That wiped away Dominic’s smile.

The vote proceeded.

It wasn’t unanimous.

But it wasn’t close either.

Dominic watched hand after hand rise around the table.

Some belonged to people who’d supported him for years.

Others belonged to relatives who’d toasted his appointment when he first became CEO.

Apparently, blood and loyalty only went so far once percentages started turning red.

The final count was recorded.

Motion carried.

Dominic hadn’t been fired. He was still employed by Sebastian Group, but until the Board completed its review, he would no longer run it.

Everything attached to actually holding the office, however, was another matter.

By lunchtime, Dominic Sebastian was no longer the man calling the shots.

Dominic sat there for several seconds.

He should’ve been furious.

Perhaps some part of him was.

His pride certainly didn’t appreciate being removed from a position in front of people who were supposed to answer to him.

Yet underneath the humiliation was another feeling he hadn’t expected.

Relief.

Dominic slowly exhaled.

He’d never wanted this job.

He’d wanted galleries, exhibitions, and enough freedom to spend an afternoon staring at a painting without someone calling to ask about quarterly projections.

Instead, he’d inherited Sebastian Group because that was what a Sebastian heir was expected to do.

For years, he’d convinced himself that responsibility meant accepting the life chosen for him.

And now the Board had temporarily taken that responsibility away.

Perhaps this wasn’t entirely a punishment.

Perhaps Alex had unknowingly given him one final gift.

A way out.

Dominic almost smiled at the thought.

He had no idea yet that the office hadn’t been the only thing attached to the position they’d just taken away from him.

For now, however, Dominic merely closed the report in front of him.

If Alex wanted their engagement over, fine.

Dominic wasn’t going to beg.

That afternoon, he gave instructions to return the Vance family heirloom.

At least one of them could still behave with dignity.

The Board, meanwhile, wasn’t finished.

A knock sounded at the conference room door.

"Mr. Sebastian is here, Chairman."

"Send him in."

The door opened, and a tall man wearing glasses stepped inside.

The resemblance to Dominic was unmistakable.

That was where most of the similarity ended.

Andrei Sebastian carried himself with the quiet confidence of someone who didn’t need the room to notice his arrival. His measured stride and brief survey of the directors suggested that he was already assessing the situation before he’d even taken his seat.

Dominic looked up at the older half-brother he’d only really gotten to know earlier that year.

Unlike Dominic, Andrei had built his career away from Sebastian Group.

He’d studied economics before moving into corporate restructuring and eventually cross-border acquisitions. Business wasn’t an obligation he’d reluctantly inherited.

Andrei genuinely enjoyed it.

The Chairman gestured toward the empty seat.

"The Board has voted to appoint you Interim Chief Executive Officer for the duration of the review."

Andrei didn’t smile.

He didn’t thank anyone either.

Instead, his gaze briefly settled on Dominic.

"I’m not here because you failed."

Dominic raised an eyebrow.

"I’m here because the company can’t afford to."

Then Andrei turned toward the rest of the Board.

"We stabilize the company first."

The room seemed to shift almost immediately.

"Preserve liquidity and contact the banks before they decide silence means instability. I also want our major clients spoken to directly. No generic reassurance from PR."

The CFO nodded.

Andrei’s attention moved toward the Head of Legal.

"Then I want every agreement involving Vance Holdings reviewed."

"Already underway."

"Good. I want to know exactly how much room Alexander Vance has to maneuver under every signed contract."

The lawyer made a note.

"Identify anything Vance Holdings can withdraw from, terminate, suspend, or renegotiate. Then identify what they can’t do without consequence."

"And the pending projects?"

"Assume nothing proceeds as planned until they confirm otherwise."

Andrei closed the file that had been placed in front of him.

"If there’s a provision protecting Sebastian Group’s interests, I want it on my desk. If there isn’t, I want to know that too."

For the first time since the scandal broke, the discussion inside Sebastian Group was no longer about whether Alexander and Dominic would reconcile.

It was about what happened if they didn’t.

And Sebastian Group finally had someone preparing for that possibility.