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Grae nodded. “Make it happen.”
“Can you give me a hint about the meeting?” Leo spread his hands. “You’ve already given your resignation, but you say you’re not back to work, so I guess you’re not here to make the announcement we all wish you would.”
“Just get everybody here and you’ll have your answers.”
Leo nodded, turning to leave the room.
“Leo?” Grae called. “Make sure Faro’s here for this.”
* * *
Leo was true to his word. After the brief discussion with Grae, he and his staff spent the next hour or so arranging the early-afternoon meeting. The rumble of mixed conversation settled to a dull roar when Graedon Clegg arrived. The room didn’t go totally silent until Faro walked in some five minutes after his brother. The man offered no greetings to anyone in the room and merely spread his hands toward Grae in a What now? gesture.
“Thanks to everybody for getting here on such short notice,” Grae said. “I know you’re all aware that I’ve given my resignation, which leaves us in the vulnerable position of being without leadership.” He looked to Faro and saw that the man’s eyes had taken on the hungry gleam they adopted when he smelled blood in the figurative sense.
“I know my half brother is interested in running the company and he’d have a very good case for doing so, as we all know. Ken Clegg’s will calls for a family member to be one of the chief executives. The duty of selecting the leadership is in the board’s hands if no suitable family member is available.”
Faro’s eyes virtually glowed then in anticipation of Grae urging the board to give him the power that was his birthright.
“To have Ken Clegg’s son, his real son, at the head of the business he grew is the best choice, and one that Ken would have supported wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, I’m not Ken Clegg’s real son. More unfortunately, his real son has made company moves that have gone against codes of conduct in the Clegg business plan as well as his father’s own will.”
The gleam in Faro’s eyes took on a venomous sheen, and he stepped forward to dispute.
“You tried to sell us out, Faro,” Grae said before the man could give voice to his argument. “You hated Dad for letting me run the company. You hated him for loving me. It made you so mad you were hell-bent on destroying everything he treasured. You made promises—verbal and written—to sell the company upon your assignment as CEO. The land deed would’ve helped secure that position once you’d ousted me. With that power, not to mention being a blood relative, you could’ve done it.”
“You—”
“It was fortunate that your intended buyer was one of integrity. They came to me, wanted to confirm you had the authority to make such an offer. Following a very interesting conversation that included the details of your written offer, I e-mailed the contents of it to everyone in this room.”
“Bastard.”
Grae smiled. “That may be, but our mother’s marriage to our father still makes me a Clegg. That, combined with my capacity as CEO, gives me the power to have you removed. It’d be in your best interest to drop any plans you have for legal action. The courts may not look too favorably on your actions—ones we may be able to prove as illegal in their own right.”
“Illegal?” Faro was stunned.
“Think about it, Faro. You can leave here and go home, or we can take it to court where your chances of going to jail could be a high possibility.” Grae raised his hands toward Faro. “Floor’s yours.”
Free to speak, Faro declined the offer. Instead, he shot the cuffs of his pristine black suit and left the room. Once silence held just shy of half a minute, faint origins of applause began until the room was alive with cheers.
Several rushed the front of the room to shake hands with Grae and slam hearty pats to his back and shoulders. Grae found he wasn’t immune to the good cheer filling the room, and soon he was grinning as broadly as everyone else.
Leo approached finally to offer his hand. “Thank you.”
Grae accepted the shake. “Just keeping my word to Dad. I promised to protect the company.”
