Chapter 2 - The CEO Who Smiled at Investors That Night Begged Me Not to Open the Financial Files by MorningAt 5:12 the next morning, my phone rang.
I was sitting in the kitchen while Zoey slept upstairs.
Her pink shoes were beside the staircase.
Her little backpack was still on the chair.
I had coffee in one hand and a stack of financial reports in the other.
“Ms. Monroe.”
The voice belonged to Gregory.
“You're awake.”
“So are you.”
There was silence.
Then:
“Can we talk before the board meeting?”
“No.”
“Eleanor.”
“Gregory, I've spent six months asking questions.”
“And you've spent six months avoiding answers.”
“I can explain.”
“You had six months.”
He exhaled.
“You don't know the whole story.”
“I know enough.”
“No.”
His voice became urgent.
“You know numbers.”
“I know contracts.”
“You don't know what happened.”
“Then tell me.”
Silence.
He hesitated.
“I'll tell you everything.”
“You should.”
“But not with the board.”
“Why?”
“Because once they're told, there's no going back.”
I looked at the clock.
7:03.
“Gregory.”
“Yes?”
“I'm already past the point of no return.”
I hung up.
At 7:30, Zoey came downstairs wearing pajamas covered in tiny stars.
“You're working.”
“Just for a little while.”
“Are we going to the castle again?”
I smiled.
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“That lady was mean.”
I hugged her.
“Some people are.”
“Were you mad?”
“A little.”
“Did you yell?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Mommy knows how to be angry without being loud.”
She thought about that.
Then nodded.
“Like when I spilled juice?”
“Exactly.”
She giggled.
At 7:45, my driver arrived.
I left Zoey with her nanny.
By 7:55, I entered the Sterling Tower boardroom.
The board was already there.
Six directors.
Two independent investors.
Corporate counsel.
Chief financial officer.
And Gregory.
He looked exhausted.
Diane sat in the lobby outside.
She wasn't supposed to be there.
I ignored her.
The board chairman stood.
“Eleanor.”
“Good morning.”
He nodded.
“You requested the emergency session.”
“Yes.”
“Then we'll begin.”
I placed a folder on the table.
“Before we discuss Gregory, I want everyone to remember something.”
I looked around.
“This company exists because I built it.”
No one argued.
“Twenty-three years ago, Ashworth & Monroe was four people in a rented warehouse.”
I turned toward Gregory.
“You were one of them.”
He nodded.
“You worked for me.”
“Yes.”
“You earned my trust.”
“Yes.”
“I made you CEO.”
“Yes.”
“So tell me why you thought you could operate around the board.”
He looked down.
“Eleanor…”
I opened the first file.
“Consulting payments.”
His expression tightened.
“Those were legitimate.”
“Five companies.”
“All owned by the same man.”
“He provided services.”
“For what?”
“Strategic planning.”
I placed another document on the table.
“No employees.”
“No office.”
“No deliverables.”
“Yet the company paid them $4.8 million.”
The CFO looked at Gregory.
Gregory said nothing.
I opened another file.
“Corporate travel.”
“Luxury resorts.”
“Private aircraft.”
“Personal security.”
“And a villa in France.”
Gregory swallowed.
“Some of those expenses were business related.”
“Your wife stayed there for eleven days.”
Diane's voice suddenly came from the doorway.
“I thought this meeting was about yesterday.”
Everyone turned.
I looked at her.
“Your presence isn't authorized.”
“I am his wife.”
“This is a corporate board meeting.”
Diane stepped inside.
“Gregory said you were trying to destroy him.”
I looked at Gregory.
He shook his head.
“I didn't say that.”
Diane looked confused.
“You said—”
“That we'd discuss it privately.”
She stared.
I turned back to the board.
“There's another problem.”
I opened the final folder.
“The acquisition of Caldwell Medical Group.”
Gregory went still.
The CFO looked confused.
“You mean the proposed acquisition?”
I shook my head.
“It isn't proposed.”
The board chairman frowned.
“What?”
“Gregory signed an exclusive purchase agreement.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Without approval.”
The room erupted.
Gregory stood.
“I was going to present it.”
“You signed a binding agreement.”
“It was conditional.”
“Conditional on board approval.”
“Yes.”
“And funding?”
“Yes.”
“From company reserves.”
Gregory stopped.
I smiled.
“Exactly.”
The chairman looked furious.
“Gregory, is this true?”
He couldn't answer.
I placed one last document on the table.
The bank commitment.
“Four hundred million dollars.”
The CFO's face went white.
“That's impossible.”
“It would have been.”
“Except Gregory also pledged company assets as collateral.”
Silence.
No one moved.
Diane stared at her husband.
“What did you do?”
He looked at her.
“I was building the company.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You were building a future without me.”
He looked at me.
“I thought you wanted to retire.”
There it was.
The assumption.
The betrayal.
“I never said that.”
“You were spending more time with Zoey.”
“My daughter is four.”
He looked ashamed.
“You changed.”
“No.”
I leaned back.
“I became careful.”
The chairman looked at me.
“What do you want done?”
I answered immediately.
“Gregory is suspended pending investigation.”
Gregory stood.
“Eleanor.”
“Security.”
“No.”
“Eleanor, please.”
Two officers entered.
They escorted him out.
Diane followed.
At the doorway, she turned.
“Why did you never tell me?”
I stared at her.
“Tell you what?”
“That you owned the company.”
I smiled faintly.
“You never asked.”
She looked humiliated.
But I felt no satisfaction.
The meeting continued.
The board voted unanimously to suspend Gregory.
Then we opened the investigation.
What we found was worse.
The shell company payments weren't the real theft.
They were a distraction.
Someone had been draining money through a subsidiary.
A subsidiary Gregory didn't control.
The trail led to the company legal department.
And one name appeared repeatedly.
Richard Ashworth.
Diane's father.
I stared at the report.
Richard had been advising the company for eighteen years.
He had always presented himself as Gregory's mentor.
Now I knew.
He wasn't helping Gregory.
May you like
He was using him.
The next morning, we would discover how deep it went.
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