Chapter 7 - THE MAJORITY VOTE
Madison Vale stepped forward,
her face contorting with rage.
“Who are you?”
she shrieked.
“Security!
Get this woman out of here!”
The Vale security team moved toward me,
but they were stopped by a wall of Harrington men.
Charles Harrington stepped into the light,
leaning on his silver-headed cane.
“I wouldn't do that if I were you,
Miss Vale,”
he said,
his voice carrying the weight of decades of power.
The room gasped.
Charles Harrington hadn't been seen in public for five years.
“Charles?”
Ethan stammered,
his hands shaking.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“The meaning is quite simple,
Ethan,”
Charles said.
“You are attempting to merge Whitmore Global with the Vale group.”
“But you forgot one very important detail.”
I walked up the stairs,
each step a victory.
I stood directly in front of Ethan,
so close I could smell the whiskey on his breath.
I looked him in his eyes—the eyes that had watched me get beaten.
“I am Ava Harper Harrington,”
I said.
The whispers in the room turned into a roar.
“And as the owner of 37% of Whitmore Global’s outstanding shares,”
I continued,
“I am officially vetoing this merger.”
I pulled a legal document from my clutch and tossed it onto the signing table.
Ethan stared at it as if it were a bomb.
“37%?”
he whispered.
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s very possible,
Ethan,”
I said.
“My mother left them to me.”
“The same mother you tried to destroy ten years ago.”
I reached out and touched his cheek,
the same place where his guards had struck me.
“You married me for these shares,
didn't you?”
“But you didn't know I already had them.”
I turned to the crowd,
to the bankers and the ministers.
“Ethan Whitmore is not a visionary,”
I told them.
“He is a fraud.”
“He used Whitmore Global funds to pay for his mistress’s lifestyle.”
“He used company security to assault his wife.”
“And he is currently carrying a debt load that will bankrupt this merger by morning.”
Madison Vale looked at Ethan,
realization dawning on her.
“Is this true?”
she demanded.
“Is the company failing?”
Ethan didn't answer.
He couldn't.
His empire was crumbling in front of the very people he had tried to impress.
“Grace,”
I said,
May you like
not looking back.
“Serve the rest of the papers.”
