Chapter 4 - THE BOARDROOM COUP
While Ambrose was wallowing in his penthouse,
Jacqueline was busy in a much more practical setting.
She sat in a glass-walled conference room in midtown,
surrounded by a team of lawyers and financial analysts she had hired in secret.
She knew Ambrose thought she was just a stay-at-home wife,
someone who managed the household staff and organized charity luncheons.
But he had forgotten that she was the one who had helped him draft his first business plans,
the one who had proofread every major contract for the first five years of their marriage.
She knew the Blackwell empire better than anyone,
including Ambrose himself.
"The shares,"
she said,
her voice steady and authoritative,
"I want thirty percent of the voting stock."
Her lead attorney,
a shark named Elena,
nodded and made a note on her tablet.
"He'll fight you on that,
Jackie,"
Elena warned,
"it would give you a seat on the board."
"That's exactly why I want it,"
Jacqueline replied,
looking out at the skyline.
"Ambrose has become reckless,
he's making deals based on ego instead of logic."
"The investors are already nervous,
and once the news of the divorce breaks,
the stock will drop."
"I'm not just doing this for the money,
I'm doing this to save the company from him."
She produced a folder of documents,
internal memos that showed Ambrose had been skimming from the employee pension fund to cover Cassandra's lifestyle.
It wasn't a huge amount,
not for a man like him,
but it was illegal,
and it was a breach of his fiduciary duty.
"This is the killing blow,"
Elena whispered,
her eyes widening as she read the numbers.
"He won't just lose the divorce,
he could lose his position as CEO."
Jacqueline felt a twinge of sadness,
a memory of the man who used to dream of building something that lasted.
But that man was gone,
replaced by the monster she had seen in the penthouse at 3:17 a.m.
"He made his choice,"
Jacqueline said,
her hand resting on her stomach,
feeling the baby move.
"I have to make mine."
The plan was set,
the trap was laid,
and within forty-eight hours,
the Blackwell name would be dragged through the mud.
Jacqueline didn't enjoy the thought of his destruction,
but she knew it was necessary to protect her child's future.
She was no longer the mechanic's daughter who was impressed by a fast car.
She was the woman who knew how to take the engine apart.
She walked out of the office,
the city air feeling crisp and cold against her face.
She was moving into her own apartment tomorrow,
a place in Brooklyn with a view of the bridge,
away from the marble and the chandeliers.
She felt lighter,
stronger,
as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
Ambrose Blackwell thought he was the one in control,
but he was about to find out that the most dangerous person in the world is a woman who has nothing to lose.
She hailed a taxi,
telling the driver her destination,
and she didn't look back at the glass towers.
May you like
She was headed toward the light,
leaving the shadows behind.
