Chapter 8 - THE MIDNIGHT BOARDROOM
The silence in the boardroom was heavy enough to suffocate a roomful of lawyers.
Adrian stepped around the edge of the mahogany table, trying to project an aura of calm authority.
“Elise, honey, you’re interrupting a critical institutional vote,” Adrian said, his voice dripping with condescending patience.
“Board members, please excuse my wife.
She’s still under a great deal of emotional distress following her father’s passing.”
Several board members nodded sympathetically, clearly uncomfortable with domestic friction interrupting their financial projections.
Celeste watched from her seat, her arms crossed, a smug little smirk playing at the corners of her mouth.
She clearly believed Adrian could charm his way out of any situation.
“Emotional distress?” I repeated, stopping three feet away from my husband.
“Adrian, do you really think my mind is clouded by grief?”
“Sweetheart, let’s go outside,” Adrian insisted, reaching out to take my arm.
I stepped back sharply, evading his touch as if his hand carried a contagious disease.
“Don’t touch me,” I said loudly enough for every microphone on the conference table to pick it up.
Marcus Vance shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“Mr. Morgan, perhaps we should pause the vote—”
“Nonsense!” Adrian interrupted sharply, his voice tightening with panic.
“My wife is simply confused about her legal standing.”
“Am I?” I turned to look directly at Margaret Sloan.
Margaret stepped forward, opening her leather briefcase and pulling out three heavy, notarized documents.
“Allow me to clarify Mrs. Morgan’s legal standing for the record,” Margaret announced, her voice ringing with icy precision.
“As of three weeks ago, following the passing of Harrison Vale, all voting shares and controlling interest in Vale Harbor Hospitality were transferred exclusively to Elise Vale Morgan.”
A murmur rippled through the board members.
Adrian forced an awkward laugh.
“Yes, of course, the family trust holds shares, but as her husband—”
“As her husband,” Margaret interrupted, her tone dropping like a guillotine,
“you hold zero voting power, zero equity rights, and zero administrative authority over Vale Harbor.”
Adrian’s smile completely vanished.
“That’s impossible,” Adrian snapped.
“We’ve been negotiating this partnership for six months!”
“You’ve been begging for a bailout for six months,” I corrected him softly.
May you like
“And last night, while you were discussing your grand plans to purge the board, you made one tiny oversight.”
I reached into my handbag, pulled out the encrypted flash drive, and tossed it onto the glass table directly in front of Marcus Vance.
