A resolution placed before every board member calling for Bennett's immediate removal as an advisor to the company. Reed opened the session by accusing Bennett of manipulating the company's debt in order to seize control at a discounted price, presenting altered emails designed to make it appear that Bennett himself had orchestrated the plant crisis from the beginning. Several board members unsettled by by accusation began to wonder whether the Mercer Continuity Fund intended to claim ownership once the merger inevitably failed. Bennett had more than enough authority to end the meeting outright, yet he remained silent, determined to let evidence, rather than reputations, settle the matter. He had rehearsed this moment for weeks, certain that ambition would always win out over conscience whenever the two collided inside a boardroom, and he had built his entire plan on that assumption without ever truly knowing the woman standing across from him.
Confident she would defend her own future, Reed called on Sloan to speak, expecting her full support. Instead, Sloan stood and stunned the room by admitting her signature had appeared on numerous fraudulent documents without her knowledge. She refused to hide behind that excuse, entirely acknowledging that her own unchecked ambition had created the conditions Reed exploited regardless of who technically entered the data. She then withdrew her name from consideration for Chief Executive until a full investigation was completed and handed the floor to Tessa, who methodically laid out the evidence piece by piece. The $48 million funneled through three shell companies, the $32 million bonus awaiting Reed upon the merger's completion, the remote accessing device discovered inside the plant's control system logging records tracing directly back to Reed's hired contractor, a verified recording in which Reed openly discussed erasing evidence after the vote, and finally, a hidden plan to sell off the Denver plant almost immediately after the deal closed.
A murmur spread across the table as each new piece of evidence appeared on the screen, and several board members who had known Reed for over a decade sat frozen, unable to reconcile the numbers in front of them with the man who had shaken their hands at holiday parties for years. One elderly board member removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, muttering that he had personally vouched for Reed's integrity during his hiring. A comment that seemed to embarrass Reed more than any accusation Tessa had leveled. Reed insisted the recording had been manipulated, but Marshall produced the original device along with untouched security logs. And independent legal experts confirmed the chain of evidence remained fully intact.
Cornered Reed shifted to threats, warning that if he were removed, the banks would call in the company's credit and bankrupt it within 30 days. That was the moment Bennett finally spoke, revealing that the Mercer Continuity Fund had quietly purchased the company's short-term credit obligations from those very banks 2 weeks earlier, stripping Reed of his final leverage entirely. Bennett held enough authority in that instant to seize full control of Whittaker Aero Systems outright. Yet he made clear he would not use that power for revenge against Sloan or her father. Instead, he proposed a new restructuring plan on the condition that future leadership be determined by competence, transparency, and a genuine commitment to protecting the workforce rather than personal loyalty or bloodline.