Chapter 8 - The Meeting
The email had my name at the bottom.
Again.
By morning, clients were calling.
Employees were confused.
Anton had told them I was leaving to focus on my banking career.
He had described our separation as mutual.
He had thanked me for my “early support.”
Four years of investment reduced to a polite sentence.
At ten, I walked into the boardroom.
Anton stopped speaking.
Valerie sat to his right.
The independent director, Leonard Price, stood when he saw me.
“Clara. We weren’t told you were attending.”
“I wasn’t told I’d resigned.”
Nobody laughed.
Mendoza placed copies of the original agreements on the table.
Company counsel, a woman named Elise Hart, opened her folder.
“We need to resolve the ownership issue before proceeding,” she said.
Anton leaned back.
“There’s nothing to resolve. Clara signed the transfer.”
“No,” I said.
“You’re upset about our marriage.”
“This is a business meeting.”
Valerie tapped a manicured nail against the table.
“You can’t just change your mind because he chose someone else.”
I looked at Elise.
“May we see the original signed transfer?”
Anton’s face barely moved.
“It’s in storage.”
“Which storage?”
“I don’t know the box number, Clara.”
Mendoza spoke.
“Then we request preservation and production. Until the transfer is authenticated, the existing ownership record remains controlling.”
Elise nodded.
“That is also my position.”
Anton turned on her.
“You work for me.”
“I represent the company.”
It was the first time I had seen him lose control without raising his voice.
He sat absolutely still.
Owen presented the payments to Vantage.
Then the payroll shortfall.
Then the attempted property-backed loan.
Valerie’s foot stopped swinging beneath the table.
Leonard removed his glasses.
“Anton, why did the board never approve these related-party payments?”
“They were legitimate consulting expenses.”
“What services?”
“Business development.”
“Deliverables?”
Anton looked at Valerie.
She looked at him.
I knew that look.
It was what happened when two people discovered they had each expected the other to invent the answer.
The board voted to suspend Anton’s spending authority pending investigation.
Valerie was placed on administrative leave.
An interim operations director would report to the board.
As Elise gathered the documents, Anton stood so sharply his chair hit the wall.
“You have no idea what you just did.”
I met his eyes.
“I finally read the room.”
He smiled then.
May you like
A small, unpleasant smile.
“Then read the contract in your wedding safe.”
