Chapter Three: The Boardroom Trap
Three days later, I walked into the NexusCore boardroom with bruises hidden under a black turtleneck and my left wrist wrapped in a medical brace.
Matthew was already there.
So was Lauren.
That was the surprise.
She sat two seats behind him, pretending not to be terrified, her blonde hair sleek, her red nails tapping against her phone. Matthew must have brought her as some kind of statement.
Or maybe he had brought her because he was too afraid to sit alone.
The boardroom went silent when I entered.
Matthew stood halfway.
“Clare,” he said, forcing softness into his voice. “You shouldn’t be here.”
I looked at the chair at the head of the table.
My father was sitting there.
Henderson stood behind him.
Dad nodded once.
I sat beside him.
Matthew’s face changed.
“What is this?” he asked.
My father opened a folder.
“This is an emergency board vote regarding your removal as CEO.”
Matthew laughed.
“You can’t do that.”
“I can,” my father said. “Your wife owns seventeen percent of the original preferred shares through the Sterling family trust.”
The room shifted.
Matthew looked at me.
For the first time in our marriage, he looked at me as if I had a shape he had never noticed before.
“You said you were cut off,” he whispered.
“I was,” I said. “From comfort. Not from ownership.”
Henderson placed documents in front of every board member.
Unauthorized transfers.
Shell vendor payments.
Luxury expenses disguised as research.
The Hamptons property.
Lauren’s consulting invoices.
And then the final document.
A recording.
Matthew’s voice filled the room.
“You are not a Sterling anymore. Your father cut you off. You chose me.”
Lauren went pale.
Matthew stared at the speakerphone like it had betrayed him.
I leaned forward.
“You beat me because you thought no one would come.”
He said nothing.
My father looked around the table.
“All in favor?”
Every hand rose.
May you like
Except Matthew’s.
His company was gone before he understood he had lost it.
