Chapter 3 - The Boardroom Battlefield
Monday morning.
The storm had passed, leaving Manhattan glittering under a cold, crisp sky. But inside the glass-and-steel monolith of Hail Industries, a different kind of storm was raging.
I stepped out of the private elevator on the fiftieth floor. Wesley and four heavily armed guards flanked me. The entire executive floor was in a state of absolute chaos. Phones were ringing off the hook. Analysts were running down the halls with stacks of paper.
The stock price was free-falling.
The Ashford family had kept their promise. Over the weekend, Coraline's father, Marcus Ashford, had officially severed all shipping contracts with our company. Hundreds of our cargo ships were suddenly barred from docking at international ports.
I ignored the panic and walked straight toward the double mahogany doors at the end of the hall.
The boardroom.
I pushed the doors open without knocking.
Sitting at the head of the massive obsidian table was Eleanor Hail. My mother. She looked immaculate, as always. Her silver hair was perfectly coiffed, her tailored Chanel suit unwrinkled. She didn't look like a woman who had just cost her company billions. She looked like a queen waiting for a rebellious prince to apologize.
Surrounding her were the board of directors—twelve old men who worshipped profit above all else.
"Garrett," my mother said, her voice dripping with disappointed ice. "How kind of you to join us. Sit down. We are currently trying to clean up the catastrophic mess you made on Saturday."
I didn't sit.
I walked slowly around the table, my eyes locked on hers.
"The only mess here, Mother, is the one you created three years ago."
The board members shifted uncomfortably.
Eleanor’s eyes narrowed. "I don't know what lies that little street rat told you, but we are facing a hostile takeover. Marcus Ashford is furious. He's demanding you issue a public apology, reinstate the engagement, and send that woman away with a non-disclosure agreement."
"Or what?" I challenged.
"Or he crushes us!" Eleanor snapped, slamming her hand on the table. "He controls the ports, Garrett! Without him, our supply chain is dead! You are thinking with your heart, like a foolish boy, instead of thinking with your head, like a CEO!"
I stopped behind the empty chair opposite her.
"You threatened a dying man, Mother. You blackmailed a pregnant woman. You robbed me of my daughter."
Gasps rippled through the boardroom. The directors exchanged frantic glances.
"A daughter?" one of the directors, Arthur Pendelton, whispered. "Eleanor... is this true? There is a Hail heir?"
Eleanor didn't even flinch. She maintained her cold, aristocratic composure. "It is an illegitimate child. A bastard used for leverage. I protected this family from a gold-digger. I secured the Ashford alliance to guarantee our future. Everything I did, I did for the empire."
"Then the empire is rotten," I said quietly.
I reached inside my jacket and pulled out a thick black folder. I tossed it onto the center of the obsidian table. It landed with a heavy thud.
"What is this?" Eleanor asked, eyeing it with suspicion.
"My resignation as CEO," I said.
Silence descended on the room. It was so quiet I could hear the hum of the air conditioning.
"You're bluffing," Eleanor sneered. "You've worked your entire life to sit in this chair."
"I also brought something else," I continued, ignoring her. "Before I came up here, I transferred all forty percent of my voting shares into an irrevocable blind trust. The beneficiary of that trust is Posie Whitlock. My daughter."
Eleanor’s face finally went pale. "You gave a toddler control of the company?"
"I gave her proxy to a legal team that hates you," I corrected with a dark smile. "You want to fight the Ashfords, Mother? Do it yourself. Without my leadership, the stock will drop another twenty percent by noon. The Ashfords will buy it up for pennies. You will be voted out of your own company by Friday."
"Garrett!" she screamed, losing her composure. "You are destroying your own legacy!"
"No," I said, turning my back on her and walking toward the door. "I'm protecting my family. Something you never learned how to do."
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As I walked out of the boardroom, her screams echoed down the hallway.
I felt lighter than I had in years. The heavy chains of the Hail legacy had finally shattered. I didn't care if I lost a billion dollars. I was going back to the woods. I was going home to the only two people who mattered.
