Chapter 4 - The Boardroom vs. The Bedside
At 5:30 AM, Ethan’s phone began buzzing incessantly. It was Richard Sterling, the senior board member of Cole Meridian Systems and the driving force behind a multi-billion-dollar acquisition scheduled to finalize in two hours.
Ethan answered, walking out into the quiet corridor near Emma’s PICU room.
"Ethan! Where are you?" Richard's voice boomed through the speaker. " The buyout representatives from Vanguard Tech are arriving in thirty minutes. We need your signature to seal the deal. This merger will double our stock value overnight!"
Ethan looked through the glass window of Room 412. Lily was sitting beside Emma’s crib, gently patting her infant sister’s forehead with a damp cloth.
"I won't be attending the signing, Richard," Ethan said quietly.
Silence stretched across the line before Richard laughed nervously. "Is this a joke? Ethan, you've spent three years setting up this merger. You stand to gain nearly two hundred million dollars personally!"
"There's a critical flaw in our algorithm," Ethan replied, his tone icy and resolute. "It prioritizes profit margins over human survival. It ruined lives, Richard. I am staying here at Barnes Memorial."
"If you skip this meeting, the board will call an emergency vote to strip you of your CEO position!" Richard warned, his voice rising in anger. "You're throwing away your empire for a couple of abandoned kids!"
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"Then let them vote," Ethan said calmly. "My empire was built on a broken foundation. I’m staying where I belong."
He hung up the phone and turned back toward the room, feeling lighter than he had in six long years.
