Chapter 9 - THE VOTE
The board meeting lasted nineteen minutes.
It felt like a year.
James Porter moved to suspend Northstar’s voting rights until the guarantee litigation was resolved.
Rebecca objected.
Malcolm objected.
I did not.
That surprised everyone.
James stared.
“You agree?”
“No.”
“I want the vote.”
He smiled.
Mistake.
Directors voted.
Four to three.
In my favor.
James went pale.
Then the door opened.
One more director entered.
Late.
Rachel Wynn.
She had been hospitalized overnight.
Migraine.
She sat down.
“I’m voting.”
James said the vote was closed.
Rebecca said it wasn’t.
Lawyers began speaking in sentences nobody outside law school should be forced to hear.
Rachel lifted one hand.
“Enough.”
She looked at me.
Then at Julian.
“I vote against suspension.”
Five to three.
Northstar kept control.
Julian’s shoulders dropped.
Then Rachel turned to me.
“Now remove him.”
I looked at Julian.
He laughed once.
“You wouldn’t.”
I almost asked why.
Then I remembered.
He still thought the marriage mattered inside the room.
I made the motion.
Terminate Julian Vance for cause.
He stood.
“Audrey.”
I seconded my own silence.
Malcolm seconded the motion.
Vote.
Six to two.
Julian lost.
He did not leave.
Security asked.
He refused.
Then he looked at me.
“I built this company.”
“No.”
Malcolm said it before I could.
“You joined twelve years after founding.”
Julian snapped.
“I made it relevant.”
An employee representative standing in the back said.
“You made us work Christmas.”
Someone laughed.
Then another voice.
“You cut bonuses.”
Another.
“You blamed engineering for the failed expansion.”
The room was no longer afraid.
That was the real firing.
Not my vote.
The moment people realized his title no longer protected him.
Security escorted him out.
He turned at the door.
“This isn’t over.”
I believed him.
By noon, Camilla released a video.
She sat in the waterfront condo.
Crying.
Wearing no jewelry.
She accused Julian of coercion.
Then she accused me of stalking, intimidation, and “using corporate power to punish another woman.”
The video reached two million views.
Comments turned ugly.
Then someone leaked my hospital record.
Three years earlier.
Anxiety medication.
Therapy notes.
Private.
Illegal.
Real.
The caption.
UNSTABLE BILLIONAIRE WIFE DESTROYS HUSBAND’S CAREER.
I stared at the screen.
Only four people knew the clinic I used.
Julian was one.
And for the first time, I stopped feeling calm.
---
(To be continued)
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