Chapter 14 - The Boardroom
I entered the boardroom in a wheelchair less than thirty hours after giving birth.
Rachel pushed me to the head of the table. Hope remained safe at the hospital with my mother.
Ethan was already there.
He looked rested, polished, and completely certain he would win.
Vanessa sat behind him.
She avoided my eyes.
Arthur opened the meeting.
“The first motion concerns the immediate removal of Ethan Parker as chief executive officer.”
Ethan smiled. “Before you vote, my counsel has evidence that Claire Hayes obtained her shares through an invalid trust.”
Rachel slid copies of the court ruling across the table.
“Your challenge was denied twenty minutes ago.”
His smile disappeared.
Thomas had formally settled his patent claim. He now owned half of North Star, while I retained the other half and full voting control of my father’s shares.
Ethan turned toward Vanessa.
“What did you do?”
Vanessa stood.
“What you taught me.”
She walked to my side of the table.
For years, she and Ethan had planned to take Hayes Aerospace. At first, they believed they were delivering justice to their fathers.
Then Ethan discovered how much money he could steal.
Revenge became greed.
Vanessa placed her phone on the table and played a recording.
Ethan’s voice filled the room.
Robert takes four pills a day. Replace them on Tuesday. By Friday, his heart will finish the job.
Ethan lunged across the table.
Daniel intercepted him.
They crashed into the wall.
Directors shouted and moved back as Ethan grabbed a glass paperweight.
He swung it at Daniel’s head.
I rolled my wheelchair directly into his path.
“Stop!”
Ethan froze.
For one second, I saw the man I had married.
Then he raised the paperweight again.
Vanessa stepped between us.
“You’ll have to hit me first.”
Police officers entered through both doors.
Ethan dropped the paperweight.
They forced his hands behind his back.
As he was led away, he turned toward me.
“This company belongs to me.”
I looked around the boardroom my father had built.
“No, Ethan. It belongs to the people you treated as if they were disposable.”
The board voted eleven to zero to remove him.
Arthur resigned immediately after the vote.
He admitted his role in approving the fraudulent contracts and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
I was appointed interim chair, but I refused the CEO position.
Power was not the same thing as leadership. Ethan had taught me that.
When the meeting ended, Vanessa remained near the window.
“Why did you help me?” I asked.
She looked exhausted.
“Because he told me the sedatives would only make your father confused. I didn’t know he planned to kill him.”
“You still helped him.”
“I know.”
Police waited outside to arrest her for fraud and conspiracy.
She held out the key to Ethan’s private office.
“There’s one more thing you need to see.”
Inside his desk, we found a sealed envelope.
My name was written across the front.
The handwriting belonged to my father.
May you like
Beneath my name were five words:
Claire, Ethan is my son.
