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“Did you get ahold of her?”I asked Alisha hopefully as we headed for the boardroom.
She shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, Mr. Langston. Her number is disconnected, and I couldn’t find any other way to reach her. She’s not answering emails.”
I nodded. I knew it was a long shot. I hoped that when she found out about this meeting, she would come back to me out of curiosity. I handed over the envelope to Alisha, knowing this was my last hope. “Have this mailed to her lawyer. I added in a change to the terms of the divorce.”
She looked at me and then pulled out the papers, flipping to the last page. Then she looked up at me sharply. “You’re giving her the beach house?”
“It was always meant to be hers.”
She pursed her lips, but nodded. “I think that’s a mistake. I don’t know how you’ll run your beach properties if there’s always the opportunity to run into her.”
“She may not keep it. For all I know, she’ll sell it.”
“That would probably be for the best.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, are you ready to do this?”
I grinned at her. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.” I strode toward the boardroom, meeting up with Shane’s father on the way. Together, we walked into the room, causing everyone to whisper. I took my place at the head of the table and stared at all of them. My father and John Wallace were sitting at the other end of the table, both of them wondering what the hell was going on.
“Gentlemen, I won’t waste any of your time. Let’s get right down to business. I have sold the company to Gregory Fletcher.”
The whole board gasped in surprise, and my father looked like he was about to kill me. I had to admit, it gave me a lot of satisfaction to see my father crumble like this, but before the day was over, he would realize that he had no recourse. I’d seen to that.
“I have sold all my stocks to Mr. Fletcher, and my father and Mr. Wallace have done the same.”
“You knew about this?” Jerry Wright said, standing and glaring at my father. He looked at me, pissed that I’d put him in this situation. I shook my head slowly, letting him know not to fuck with me right now.
“Of course, I did,” he bit out.
“You can’t sell without board approval,” Jerry argued.
“Yes, about that,” I said, snapping my fingers. Alisha walked by us, handing out files to each board member. “As you can see, Mr. Fletcher and I have spent the past month crunching numbers and figuring out the next path for this company. Though I have only been here a short time as your CEO, I’ve managed to snag some very lucrative deals. One of which will be announced tomorrow morning. A month ago, I purchased Constance Media. If you flip to the green tab, the projected value of the company and profits are listed, along with what you stand to gain as board members.”
“Why didn’t I get one?” Jerry asked as Alisha walked right past him.
“Right,” I nodded. “How could I forget? I had a special folder made just for you,” I winked.
He opened it up and turned bright red. “It’s empty.”
“Because you will not remain on this board a minute longer,” I said cooly. I turned to the other board members who looked like they were about to shit themselves. “Mr. Wright’s only goal while being a board member was to take over the company. You saw it early on with his multiple attempts to have me thrown out. Some of you even saw his deceit. I will not have that continue under our new CEO. Mr. Fletcher will guide this company to larger profits, soaring higher than I ever could. I promise you, he will not let you down. But to do that, we can’t have people working against us and our goals for this company. The only way Mr. Fletcher will take over today is if you vote Jerry Wright off the board. He will not ever step foot in this building again.”
I waited for the board to say something. Fletcher was against this tactic, but I knew I had to get Jerry out if he was going to move forward successfully. And I had confidence that the board would vote in my favor. I’d seen how angry they were after the stunts Jerry pulled. It was only a matter of time before he tried again.
“All those in favor or removing Jerry Wright from his position, please say aye.”
One by one, all the board members voted him out. With that taken care of, there was only the small fact of dealing with my father, and then I would walk out these doors and never return. When the meeting was over, I shook Fletcher’s hand and headed back to my office. He would officially take over for me in the morning with the new rollout of our newest asset.
As expected, my father and John Wallace burst into my office, slamming the door behind them.
“Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” my father shouted. “I did not work my entire life to have you throw my whole goddamn company away!”
“Relax, father. You’ll give yourself an aneurysm. I got you a very lucrative deal.”
“I don’t give a shit about the deal.”
“You should have never gone behind our backs like that,” Wallace spoke up. “You put my daughter’s future at risk today.”
“Your daughter’s future? Tell me, when was that last time you gave a shit about her? Was it when you threatened to leave her with nothing if she didn’t sign the marriage contract?”
His face turned bright red. “You both had options and chose to sign.”
“Yes, well, that’s what happens when you live in families like ours. It’s all about the money. You’ll be happy to know that I not only got you a shit ton of money out of this deal, but I also managed to leave my wife—soon to be ex-wife, with a very nice nest egg.”
“Your ex-wife?” my father asked.
I looked down at my desk so they wouldn’t see how much it pained me to admit that part. “Yes, well, it turns out, not everyone is cut out for marriages made from contracts. Now we’re all free of each other. I’ve made sure both of you are set for the rest of your lives. In return, you will never contact me again, and you,” I said to Wallace, “will never contact your daughter. If she wants to speak to you, she will call you.”
Sitting down in my seat, I pretended to be busy at work. “Now, I have things to wrap up. I think you both know your way out.”
I knew they wanted to argue, but had nothing more to say. It should feel good to get such a big victory, but instead, all I felt was loss. The win meant nothing if she wasn’t by my side.
