Chapter 6 - THE BOARDROOM EXPLOSION
The emergency board meeting was scheduled for January 3.
Grant arrived twenty minutes early.
He wore a navy suit, a white shirt, and the confident expression of a man who believed he could talk his way out of anything.
Howard sat at the head of the table.
Brooke was not supposed to attend.
Yet she appeared ten minutes before the meeting began.
She wore a fitted black dress and carried a leather folder.
Grant looked surprised.
“What are you doing here?”
“I'm here to support you.”
Howard frowned.
“This is a confidential board meeting.”
Brooke smiled.
“I'm the financial director of Northstar Consulting.”
Claire, seated across the table, looked up.
“No, you're not.”
Brooke's smile disappeared.
Claire placed a document in front of her.
“Northstar has no registered employees, no verifiable office, and no record of providing the services for which it received $1.2 million.”
Howard leaned forward.
“Claire, this is not the place for personal accusations.”
“Then perhaps we should discuss the company's money instead.”
Arthur distributed the audit report.
The directors began reading.
Grant shifted in his chair.
“Those transactions were approved under an existing consulting arrangement.”
Claire turned toward him.
“By whom?”
“Management.”
“Which members?”
Grant looked at Howard.
Howard answered for him.
“We approved the arrangement.”
Claire nodded.
“Then you'll have no problem explaining why the payments went to Brooke Mercer's personal account.”
The room erupted.
Brooke stood.
“That is a lie.”
Claire placed another document on the table.
A bank transfer.
A jewelry invoice.
A hotel reservation.
A resort booking.
All paid through Northstar.
Brooke looked at Grant.
“You told me this was handled.”
Grant whispered, “Sit down.”
“You told me she couldn't touch the accounts!”
Claire watched the exchange.
The affair was no longer the most interesting thing in the room.
It was the fact that Brooke knew exactly where the money was coming from.
Howard stood.
“This meeting is over.”
“No,” Claire said.
She placed her father's trust certificate on the table.
“As the holder of thirty-eight percent of the voting shares, I'm requesting an immediate vote on executive suspension pending an independent investigation.”
Howard's face darkened.
“You don't have the authority.”
Arthur spoke calmly.
“She does.”
The directors looked at one another.
The vote began.
Three directors supported suspension.
Two opposed.
One abstained.
Howard's authority was temporarily suspended.
Grant's executive privileges were frozen pending investigation.
For the first time in his adult life, Grant Bennett left a boardroom without being in control.
He followed Claire into the corridor.
“You planned this.”
She kept walking.
“Grant.”
“Stop.”
She turned.
He looked furious.
“You embarrassed me in front of everyone.”
“You embarrassed yourself.”
“You think you can run this company?”
“I helped build it.”
“You were home raising children!”
Claire's expression changed.
“I was home raising our son because you asked me to sacrifice my career.”
“And I gave you everything!”
“No, Grant. You gave me a house and expected me to mistake it for a life.”
He stepped closer.
“You're going to regret this.”
Before Claire could answer, Brooke appeared behind him.
“Grant, we need to talk.”
He turned sharply.
“Not now.”
“It's about the baby.”
Claire froze.
The hallway went quiet.
Grant's expression changed.
“Brooke.”
She looked directly at Claire.
“I think you should know that your husband promised to marry me.”
Claire's throat tightened.
Grant shook his head.
“Don't.”
Brooke opened her folder.
Inside was a photograph of an engagement ring.
“He bought it in October.”
Claire recognized the jewelry store.
The same store from the credit card statement.
Brooke's voice trembled.
“He told me he was leaving you after the baby was born.”
Claire looked at Grant.
“Is that true?”
He said nothing.
Brooke continued.
“He said he was only waiting because your pregnancy made things complicated.”
Claire felt the floor shift beneath her.
Not because she still wanted him.
Because she finally understood how completely he had divided his life.
But then Brooke said something that changed everything.
“He also told me the baby would inherit part of Bennett Harbor.”
Claire slowly turned toward her.
“What baby?”
Brooke looked confused.
“The baby I'm carrying.”
Grant closed his eyes.
Claire stared at the two of them.
Then she said, “Brooke, you're not seven weeks away from giving birth.”
Brooke frowned.
“What?”
Claire placed the hospital records on the table.
“According to the medical documents you sent me, your due date was supposed to be in January.”
Brooke went white.
Claire continued.
“But these records show something else.”
She slid a second document forward.
A termination authorization dated five weeks earlier.
May you like
Signed by Brooke.
And paid for by Grant.
