One Night Stand, Eight Surprises: Pampered by My CEO Husband --- - Chapter 32: Chapter 32

The ink on the headlines had barely dried when the first buyout offer landed on Damien’s desk.
It came wrapped in smiles—generous numbers, a handshake in gold, the illusion of a partnership. But beneath the offer sheet was blood, and Damien smelled it the moment he unfolded the envelope.
The Carrington family.
Old money. Ruthless players. And long-time enemies of the Kingston dynasty.
They weren’t offering help. They were circling.
Feeding on the recent press storm like wolves on a bleeding carcass.
“Five percent already sold to them,” his CFO whispered, eyes darting across the boardroom. “Anonymous sales. Quiet. Strategic.”
Damien’s knuckles turned white as he clenched the file.
“They want twenty,” he said flatly. “That’s enough to call an emergency vote.”
“To remove you?”
He looked up. “To erase me.”
At home, Arielle saw the change.
He didn’t sleep. Barely ate. Walked the halls like a ghost wearing a designer suit.
She sat beside him in the study late one night, watching as he tore through financial records and call logs.
“Damien,” she said softly, “you can’t outthink greed. Not forever.”
His eyes flicked to hers, haunted. “They want the company. But worse, they want it with you gone.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re already spreading rumors. That you’re manipulating me. That the baby is leverage. That this is a ploy to steal my name.”
Arielle’s heart hardened. “Then they’re afraid.”
He blinked. “Of what?”
“Of what we’ve built without them.”
By Friday, Damien called an emergency board meeting.
He entered flanked by his top legal and financial advisors, all grim-faced.
“The Carringtons have made their play,” he announced. “They’ve acquired just under seven percent of company stock through ghost accounts.”
Murmurs spread.
“They’ve leveraged three board members with promises of seats in their new leadership structure. And they’ve scheduled an anonymous proxy vote for next week.”
One board member, a long-time neutral, leaned forward. “Do you have the votes to stop it?”
Damien’s jaw tightened. “I will.”
That night, he sat alone with Arielle in their room, both children and shadows asleep across the house.
“I’ve never been this close to losing it,” he whispered. “Not just the company—but the right to say I did it my way.”
Arielle rested her head against his shoulder. “Then fight back differently.”
He turned. “How?”
“Show them the future isn’t just profits and percentages. Show them it’s blood, loyalty, and legacy.”
Damien thought for a long, long time.
Then he nodded. “I know exactly what to do.”
Three days later, in front of the world, Damien Kingston announced the launch of a new division—Kingston Futures—focusing on ethical investments, family-centered innovations, and community rebuilding.
He appointed Arielle as co-founder.
And made every board member choose: the past they feared losing or the future they’d never imagined.
But behind closed doors, Thomas Greaves made a final call.
“Plan C,” he said simply. “If Damien wants to play family... let’s hit him where it hurts.”
He sent a single message to an anonymous contact:
Find the original marriage license. And leak it.