Chapter 6 - The Boardroom BetrayalThe first shareholder meeting after Emily's divorce lasted eleven minutes.
The second lasted three hours.
By the end, five executives were sweating.
Blake arrived expecting obedience.
Instead, he found Emily seated at the head of the table.
He stopped.
“What are you doing here?”
Emily didn't rise.
“Working.”
Sienna stood beside him.
“You have no authority.”
Emily slid a document across the table.
“Read section twelve.”
Blake picked it up.
His face changed.
“Where did you get this?”
“My grandmother.”
He looked at her.
“The trust?”
“Yes.”
Sienna whispered:
“She found it.”
Charles had not yet arrived.
Blake sat.
“Emily, you don't understand what you're threatening.”
“I understand exactly what I'm threatening.”
She opened a folder.
“Fraud.”
Blake's face hardened.
“Careful.”
“False property valuations.”
She turned a page.
“Illegal transfers.”
Another page.
“Undisclosed liabilities.”
Another.
“Shell companies.”
Sienna stepped forward.
“You're accusing my fiancé of crimes?”
Emily glanced at her.
“I'm presenting documents.”
Blake slammed his hand onto the table.
“You think you can walk in here after three years and take control?”
Emily smiled.
“Three days.”
“What?”
“I've only been back for three days.”
The room went silent.
“Three years were enough for you to bury evidence.”
She leaned forward.
“Three days were enough for me to find it.”
One board member cleared his throat.
“We should postpone.”
“No.”
The voice came from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
Adrian Sterling entered.
Blake's expression darkened.
“Why are you here?”
Adrian looked at him.
“As an investor.”
“You don't own shares.”
“I do now.”
The board members exchanged looks.
Adrian placed a certificate on the table.
“I purchased six percent of Carson Meridian this morning.”
Blake stared at him.
“You couldn't have.”
“I did.”
Sienna looked frightened.
Emily noticed.
That was important.
Sienna knew something.
Adrian sat beside Emily.
“I believe Ms. Carson has more to present.”
Emily continued.
She showed them transfers.
Invoices.
Private communications.
Hotel acquisition records.
Then she presented the auditors.
Three independent signatures.
The room went silent.
Under the trust clause, the condition had been met.
Emily was now entitled to voting control.
Blake stood.
“No.”
The board chair looked at the documents.
“According to this, Ms. Carson has controlling voting interest.”
Blake grabbed the papers.
“You can't do this.”
Emily stared at him.
“I already did.”
His face turned pale.
Sienna stepped closer to him.
“Blake.”
He ignored her.
“You signed the divorce agreement.”
“Yes.”
“You gave up all claims.”
“Yes.”
“Then this doesn't belong to you.”
Emily smiled.
“You're right.”
Blake blinked.
“It doesn't.”
She looked around the room.
“It belongs to the trust.”
“And who controls the trust?”
Silence.
Emily answered.
“Me.”
The board chairman called for a vote.
Blake lost.
Not by much.
But enough.
His access was suspended.
His executive authority frozen.
His corporate cards blocked.
The room erupted.
Blake stared at Emily.
She stood.
“I think we're finished.”
He stepped toward her.
“This isn't over.”
Emily's eyes remained cold.
“No.”
She walked past him.
“It isn't.”
In the hallway, Adrian caught up.
“You handled that well.”
Emily stopped.
“Where are my children?”
He looked at her.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Then there is something you need to see first.”
He handed her a phone.
On the screen was a live video feed.
Three children sat around a table.
The little girl was drawing.
One of the boys was reading.
The other was building a wooden airplane.
Emily touched the screen.
“Are they real?”
Adrian smiled.
“They're very real.”
The girl looked up.
Almost as if she sensed something.
Then she said:
“Uncle Adrian?”
“Yes?”
“Is Mama coming soon?”
Emily's heart shattered.
Mama.
She covered her mouth.
The other boy looked up.
“When?”
Adrian looked at Emily.
“Tonight.”
Emily began to cry.
But before she could speak, the video froze.
Then disappeared.
A notification appeared.
SECURITY BREACH.
Adrian's expression changed.
“Someone found them.”
Emily's face drained of color.
“Who?”
Adrian looked at the screen.
“Blake.”
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
May you like
A man's voice said only four words:
“Charles has the children.”
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