Chapter 13 - The Corporate Purge
With the criminal case moving forward and public opinion completely solidified, I called a final, decisive meeting with the board of directors. I left Sarah and Lily safe at the hospital with security and walked into the glass-walled boardroom of Sterling Enterprises.
The atmosphere was entirely different this time. There was no hesitation, no questioning of my authority. The board members, wealthy investors who despised negative PR, were visibly terrified of the fallout.
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“Let me be perfectly clear,” I said, standing at the head of the long mahogany table. “Eleanor and Julian Sterling are permanently removed from all corporate affiliations. Their shares are being seized by the federal government to pay back the stolen assets, which I am actively purchasing back at market value.”
“Arthur, the optics of this are terrible for our Q3 projections,” one of the older board members stammered nervously. “The optics of having felons on the board are much worse,” I snapped back. “I am restructuring the entire executive team. Anyone who facilitated their transfers, anyone who looked the other way while my brother looted this company, will have their resignations on my desk by 5:00 PM today. Or you can explain your negligence to the FBI.” By the end of the day, I had completely purged the company of every toxic element my mother had installed over the last decade. The empire was finally mine.
