Chapter 12 - Stripping the Title
The atmosphere in the executive boardroom was so tense that the faint ticking of the wall clock sounded like a countdown timer on an explosive device. Julian stared down at the corporate buyout documents resting on the mahogany table, his eyes tracing the embossed seals of Vance Banking Group and the signatures of his own board members who had quietly sold him out to save their own financial reputations.
"You can't do this," Julian whispered, his voice cracking as he looked up at Elena. The arrogant, controlling husband who had once dictated every aspect of her life was gone, replaced by a desperate, cornered man watching his entire identity disintegrate. "This company was founded by my grandfather. It bears my family name. I am the Chief Executive Officer!"
"Not as of three minutes ago," Elena replied smoothly. She didn't sit down. She paced slowly around the perimeter of the table, her heels clicking with rhythmic authority against the hardwood floor until she stood directly behind Julian’s chair. "In accordance with Article 14 of the corporate bylaws, a supermajority stakeholder possesses the absolute administrative authority to remove executive officers for gross fiduciary negligence and moral turpitude."
She leaned down slightly, her voice dropping into the same freezing, mocking whisper he had used on her in the maternity ward just days earlier. "You are fired, Julian. Effective immediately. You are stripped of your title, your salary, your corporate expense accounts, and your company vehicle."
Julian spun around in his chair, his face twisting into a mask of pure, unadulterated rage. He lunged toward her, his hands snapping out to grab the lapels of her white executive suit. "You bitch! I made you! You were nothing before you met me!"
Before his fingers could even brush the fabric of her jacket, Sebastian Vance moved with the blinding, brutal speed of a strike force operative. He grabbed Julian by the collar of his custom suit and his belt strap, hoisting the former CEO completely out of his chair and slamming him face-down onto the center of the polished mahogany table with a bone-jarring crash.
"I warned you about touching her, Montgomery," Sebastian growled, pinning Julian’s chest against the wood with his forearm while twisting his right arm painfully behind his back.
Elena didn't even flinch. She stood calmly, looking down at Julian as he squirmed helplessly against the table, his face pressed against the corporate ledgers he no longer controlled.
"Let him up, Sebastian," Elena instructed quietly.
Sebastian released his grip, shoving Julian off the table so hard he stumbled backward, crashing into a presentation easel before losing his footing and falling onto the carpet. His custom suit was crumpled, his tie askew, his hair wild and disheveled.
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Elena picked up a small cardboard bankers box from the corner of the room and dropped it onto the floor right in front of him.
"You have ten minutes to pack your personal effects from the corner office under the supervision of my security detail," Elena said, her voice completely devoid of pity. "After that, your building access pass will be deactivated, and if you step foot on any commercial property owned by Montgomery Real Estate again, you will be arrested for trespassing. Take your cardboard box and get out of my building, Julian. You're a nobody now."
