Chapter 6 - The Secret Benefactor
With Julian sitting in a maximum-security holding cell, the vultures began to circle. The remaining board members of Vanguard Zenith, realizing a woman was now in charge, attempted a mutiny.
They called a secret meeting, intending to vote me out of the CEO position using a loophole in the corporate bylaws regarding "absentee leadership" due to my medical confinement.
They didn't realize I had a spy in the room.
I was watching the live feed from my hospital bed when Richard Sterling—the very investor Julian had tried to impress on the night of the assault—stood up at the head of the table.
"Gentlemen," Richard said, adjusting his tie. "I understand you are attempting to oust Mrs. Hayes."
"She's a liability, Richard," one of the board members sneered. "She's pregnant, hospitalized, and doesn't know the first thing about commercial real estate."
Richard smiled, a predatory grin that made the room temperature drop. "Actually, she knows more than all of you combined. Because I taught her."
The room went dead silent.
I smiled to myself. Nobody knew that before I met Julian, I had been Richard Sterling's most ruthless protégé at his private equity firm in New York. When Julian and I married, I played the part of the quiet, supportive wife perfectly, allowing Julian to believe he was the master of his own universe. In reality, Richard and I had been waiting for Julian to hang himself with his own arrogance.
"Elena Hayes is the sharpest mind I have ever worked with," Richard declared, leaning over the table. "She orchestrated this takeover flawlessly. And let me make this very clear: my capital stays with this firm only if she remains at the helm. If you vote her out, I pull my funding, and this company files for Chapter 11 tomorrow."
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The mutiny died before it even drew breath.
One by one, the board members lowered their hands, defeated. I had won the war without ever leaving my hospital bed.
