Part 2
The man behind the effort to oust Renee was Charles Montgomery.
He had been Arthur Sterling’s business partner for nearly thirty years and currently served as the vice chairman of the board.
“He isn’t a cartoon villain,” Renee explained to Daniel over tea. “When the company almost collapsed during the tech crash in 2001, Charles remortgaged his own home to meet payroll. He genuinely believes he’s saving what he built with my father.”
The core conflict was Renee’s passion project: a low-orbit satellite initiative designed to deliver high-speed broadband to isolated rural communities across the country where thousands of families remained digitally marooned.
Charles viewed it as a multi-billion-dollar vanity project.
And Renee’s illness had handed him the ultimate weapon.
A critically ill, emotionally isolated young woman with no personal support system cannot be trusted to guide the future of 3,800 employees.
That was the narrative his allies were quietly leaking to institutional investors.
“I need them to stop looking at me like a dying heiress,” Renee said. “And I need someone beside me who doesn’t belong to their world—someone they can’t buy, threaten, or predict.”
Daniel looked down at the contract on the glass table.
Twelve million dollars.
He could buy a house in a safe neighborhood for Lily. Put away a college fund that would guarantee her future. Upgrade his shop. Stop counting every dollar at the end of the month.
He looked up and accepted on one condition: “My daughter comes first. Always. And I will not lie to her.”
Renee extended her hand. “Deal.”
Over the next few weeks, Daniel’s life transformed overnight. He went from wiring industrial breaker boxes in the morning to sitting in specialized oncology suites by noon and attending high-stakes corporate dinners by evening.
In public, they presented a unified, affectionate front.
In private, they remained two guarded strangers trying to figure out why they were beginning to understand each other so well.
Daniel was there when Renee threw up from side effects after a conditioning treatment.
He was there when her hair began to fall out in strands.
He was there when she wept in silent frustration because her legs were too weak to climb her own staircase.
And he was also there when, hours later, she adjusted a tailored wig, put on a sharp suit, and walked into a boardroom like an unstoppable force.
Charles Montgomery watched every move.
Two weeks into the arrangement, Charles appeared in person at Daniel’s shop in South Boston.
“Nice shop,” Charles remarked, taking in the old wooden workbenches. “My father worked with his hands, too.”
Daniel didn’t answer. He kept stripping a copper wire.
Charles placed a business card on top of a toolbox. “I know Renee is paying you.”
Daniel felt a sudden chill. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know about the contract, Daniel. I know where Lily goes to school. I know how much you owe on this lease.”
Daniel’s jaw set hard. “Do not speak my daughter’s name.”
Charles held up his hands placatingly. “It’s not a threat. It’s an offer.” He produced a folded cashier’s check. “Thirty million dollars. You walk away today. Afterward, you sign an affidavit confirming Renee hired you to stage a relationship to deceive the board.”
Daniel stared at the staggering number on the paper.
“You want to destroy her,” Daniel said quietly.
“I want to save this company.”
That night, Daniel sat at his kitchen table long past midnight, staring at the wall.
Thirty million dollars. More money than he could earn in ten lifetimes of manual labor.
For the first time since meeting Renee, he felt a flicker of profound uncertainty.
Then his phone chimed.
“Daniel…”
It was Renee. Her voice was barely a gasp.
“I have a fever… my nurse isn’t answering… I think I’m passing out.”
A heavy thud echoed through the speaker.
Daniel sprinted out the door.
He found her unconscious on her bedroom floor.
He ended up back in the hospital, standing in the hallway as doctors rushed around her to stabilize a severe neutropenic infection.
When Renee woke up at dawn, she realized her headscarf had slipped off, exposing her patchy, thinning hair. She quickly turned her face toward the wall.
“Don’t look at me.”
Daniel pulled his chair closer. “I’ve spent twenty years fixing industrial electrical systems after factory fires, Renee. Trust me, I know how to recognize something that’s still carrying a current.”
Renee wept silently—not from sadness, but from pure, bone-deep exhaustion.
That afternoon, Daniel went back to his shop, picked up Charles Montgomery’s thirty-million-dollar offer, and ripped it into pieces.
Seventy-two hours later, Daniel woke up to eighteen missed calls.
Photographs of him entering Renee’s estate at two in the morning were plastered across financial blogs.
Excerpts from their private agreement had been leaked to the press.
A headline was trending across the business section:
STERLING HEIRESS PAID MILLIONS FOR FAKE BOYFRIEND TO DECEIVE BOARD
Sterling Global stock began to plummet.
Daniel drove straight to Beacon Hill. Renee was sitting in her study, staring blankly at a muted television screen.
“Anyone could have taken those photos,” Daniel said, trying to steady his voice. “We can spin it.”
Renee looked up at him. “Not the contract details.”
“What do you mean?”
“There are only three physical copies of that agreement,” she said quietly. “You have one. My attorney has one.”
Daniel felt a knot tighten in his stomach. “Where was the third?”
“In my private home safe.”
Daniel took a breath. “Who knows the combination?”
Renee swallowed hard. “Only two people. And one of them has been my personal assistant for six years.”
