Chapter 4 - The Boardroom Execution
The executive boardroom on the thirtieth floor of Beaumont & Hart was designed to intimidate. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls overlooked the Manhattan skyline, and a massive thirty-foot conference table made of reclaimed French walnut dominated the center of the room.
When I pushed open the double doors at precisely 10:00 a.m., every head snapped toward the entrance.
Nathan sat at the head of the table. His hair was slightly disheveled, his expensive tie pulled loose at the collar, and his face pale with cold sweat. Standing right behind him was Vanessa, hovering like a bad omen in a tight red designer dress, her smug expression entirely replaced by nervous confusion.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Nathan roared, slamming his palms onto the walnut table and standing up so fast his chair screeched across the floor. “Security! How did she get past the lobby?! Throw this woman out of the building right now!”
Not a single security guard outside the doors moved. They had already received the updated clearance codes from Marcus Sterling’s legal team downstairs.
I didn't flinch. I walked down the length of the boardroom, my heels clicking sharply against the polished parquet floor. I didn't take a seat near the middle or the end. I walked straight up to the head of the table, stood directly opposite Nathan, and placed my leather briefcase on the wood.
“You can’t throw me out, Nathan,” I said clearly, letting my voice carry across the silent room. “Because as of nine o'clock this morning, you no longer hold majority voting control over this corporation.”
Vanessa let out a sharp, hysterical scoff, stepping forward. “Are you out of your mind, Claire? You’re just a retail designer! Nathan built this empire! Security, remove her before we call the police!”
I turned my gaze slowly toward Vanessa. The memory of her smiling while Nathan struck my face flashed in my mind like a strobe light.
“Vanessa,” I said softly, “you might want to check page four of the corporate registry audit currently being projected onto the smart screen behind you.”
Before Vanessa could retort, the seventy-inch boardroom display flickered to life.
Harrison Cole, senior corporate counsel from Marcus’s firm, clicked a remote. Up on the screen flashed the legal incorporation documents of Meridian Holdings, clearly displaying my full maiden name—*Claire Elizabeth Vance*—as the sole majority beneficiary and controlling shareholder since 2014.
Below it flashed the bank transfer records showing how Nathan had secretly tried to siphon ninety thousand dollars of company funds last month to buy Vanessa a luxury apartment in Tribeca—a textbook violation of corporate fiduciary duty and federal wire fraud.
The boardroom gasped.
Several senior board members turned their heads away from Nathan in sheer disgust.
Nathan stared at the screen, the blood draining completely from his face until he looked like a corpse. His knees wobbled, and he grabbed the edge of the table to steady himself.
“No...” Nathan whispered, staring at me with horror. “No, that’s impossible. You... you didn't have the capital. My father’s estate—”
“Your father’s estate was bankrupt when he died, Nathan,” I interrupted, my voice sharp as a scalpel. “My family’s trust bailed you out. You were just the puppet put on stage so people like my father wouldn't have to look at a woman running the show.”
I opened my briefcase, pulled out a formal termination letter, and slid it across the table right in front of him.
May you like
“Item one on the agenda: Nathan Beaumont, you are hereby stripped of your CEO title, your executive privileges, and your office access, effective immediately.”
---
