The Billionaires Too (#2)

53 || Board Meeting

"Good Afternoon, Gentlemen and lady. I hope I'm not too early," MJ Billings greeted smoothly as she strolled into the boardroom, where Billings Corporations shareholders alongside Jorge and Sandra, had been waiting for over an hour.

None of the faces seemed to be impressed with her grand entrance, only Sandra responded with a warm smile courtesy of her speedy recovery, the other men looked grumpy and hateful, while Jorge seemingly rolled his eyes.

On a positive note, everything else seemed to be in place, Cameron had done an impressive job at setting up the boardroom as much as he did disappearing. For perfectly obvious reasons, he did not want to see Jorge, especially since they still had an unresolved identity issue as well as the fact that Cameron still had to go home to see Logan.

MJ was surprised that he still stuck with her even after all the workload she put on him to prepare for this meeting and the proceedings to get this building back in business again.

Hopefully, he wouldn't run away after what she was about to do today.

She was snapped back to the present by Mr Reynolds's grumbling voice. "You are late," he gritted.

MJ fought hard to keep herself from going She-Devil right away. "Mr Reynolds, glad to see you. It's been quite a while. How have you been?" She asked with a tight-lipped smile.

That comment did not seem to sit well with Mr Reynolds. "Oh, please! Save your sarcasm, you damn witch!" He shouted, earning a pout from MJ.

"Watch yourself, Daniel. That's my sister you are speaking to," Jorge intervened, trying to stop the fire, but MJ thought of pouring gasoline.

"A witch? That's new," she said.

Jorge glared at her warningly. "Can we start with what we are here for?" He asked, turning his head towards the others.

That was all Mr Fernando needed to hear to precede with the meeting. "Your sister has brought nothing but havoc in the last few weeks, and we've just sat back and done nothing; now the world is questioning our credibility," the 64-year-old Spanish man said, his breath tickling his moustache.

MJ turned to him with a steely gaze, she knew where he was going with his credibility stunt and she was not having it. If the board members thought they were going to remove her from her company that easily, they had a huge surprise coming. "That credibility wouldn't even be part of your vocabulary if it was not for me," She said factually.

"MJ–" Sandra tried to interject, but was cut off. She always wished MJ could stop being so rude, but it seemed like they were not getting anywhere.

MJ threw her a look that said 'stay out of this.' Sandra was attending the meeting for the very first time, she had no idea how these people were. MJ had been working with them for years to know that they did not hate her because of the way she did business; they hated her because she was a woman and they did not want to be ruled by a woman.

"I came into the office today with the mind-set to start on a clean slate, but I can see that they have a different motive," she gritted.

One of the men, Mr Alpha Jones, sat up straight, finally having something to say. This should be interesting, MJ thought. Mr Jones barely ever spoke in their meetings, he always agreed to everything being said, perhaps he had something useful to add. "That's not the case, Miss Billings. As a matter of fact, we share your vision; we believe this company deserves a fresh start," he said calmly.

"I'm glad we are on the same page, Alpha," MJ said smoothly as she watched him grimace.

He fixed his tie while clearing his throat. Mr Reynolds nodded subtly, telling him to continue. Bloody cowards! MJ thought, narrowing her eyes at Mr Reynolds. "Under new and different leadership," Alpha said almost inaudibly.

"This is my company," MJ reminded them, hoping that the simple statement would knock some sense into their heads, but to no avail.

Mr Reynolds snickered. "We know, and we respect that. We wouldn't be doing this if it were not necessary, but we have lost a lot of money in the last week and your presence isn't helping," he said without sparing her a glance.

Alpha, the politer one, quickly added, "Under different circumstances, we would have appointed Mr Cooper, may his soul rest in peace. But that's impossible, so now we have to vote you off as CEO and we also need to appoint a new CEO as well as chairperson of the board."

This got both MJ and Sandra's attention, they were aware of appointing a new CEO to get rid of MJ, but they did not expect the board to want to replace Alastair so quick. "My husband hasn't even been buried for a week and you are already looking to replace him?" Sandra asked.

Mr Wang cleared his throat to attract attention, and everyone's eyes turned towards him expectantly. "Firstly, I'd like to say my deepest condolences to the both of you, ladies; he was a great man," he said to MJ before turning to Sandra. "Mrs Cooper, I promise you that this is nothing personal; we just want to keep the business moving. Alastair was the heart of the company, but he's no more."

"Your daughter here, brought this upon herself," Mr Reynolds said.

MJ tilted her head to the side and shut her eyes tightly, drawing in a deep breath. "So you are going to vote me out?" She asked quietly.

"Unfortunately," Mr Wang said.

MJ sighed deeply and opened her black opalescent black eyes. "Well then, you are all dismissed from your positions, with immediate effect."

"WHAT?" They all chorused as the room went silent in shock.

Jorge turned to MJ, his eyes and lips slightly apart. "MJ, don't you think that's too harsh?" He asked.

"Would you like to join them?" She asked without sparing him a glance.

"You can't do that," Mr Reynolds argued.

MJ gave him a sealed smile; her eyes void of any playfulness. "Yes, I can," she said, passing on files that Cameron had placed on the table. "Maybe you should have read your contracts before signing them. Your contracts clearly state that I have the right to take back your shares or transfer or to handle transactions on your behalf should you commit a felony against this company. As we all know, numbers don't lie." She crossed her legs and arms, and then leaned back against her chair.

"What are you talking about?" Jorge asked, a familiar look on his face.

He thinks I'm gonna rat him out. MJ thought. "It appears that our shareholders have been stealing from us. Cameron," she called out before anyone of them could react.

Jorge sat up in surprise. "Cameron? What is he doing here?"

"He's my new PA," MJ said nonchalantly.

"Temporary PA," Cameron answered, entering the boardroom. He started distributing more files to everyone in the room.

MJ proceeded to open hers. "If we can all open our files, in here are bank statements showing unauthorized transactions from the company accounts to their accounts–"

"What??? That's ridiculous, it is impossible and untrue," Mr Wang argued vehemently.

"Which one is it – untrue or impossible?" She asked, and Mr Wang went mum. "One thing I'll never understand is why every i***t who steals money, decides to send it to the Cayman Islands."

This time, the room went silent, and the five men exchanged subtle looks while Jorge focused his gaze on the table, his face seemingly red.

Mr Reynolds tried to warn off Mr Wang from speaking, but the Chinese man was a panicking mess, he could not hide his fear from his eyes. He gave an apologetic look to his accomplices and then turned to MJ, ready to talk when one of his friends beat him to it.

"Miss Billings, I can explain!" All eyes turned to the young man as he blurted out, his dark face slightly red.

MJ watched as Reynolds cursed and covered his face with his palms. "Mr Williamson, I was wondering when you would speak up!" She said with a sigh as she got up from her seat, fixing her dress before she picked up her files. "I'll keep these. Cameron, help me carry all these files."

"Yes, Ma'am." Cameron gathered and picked up all the files from the meeting, including all the false evidence.

"What's going to happen now?" Reynolds asked, his previous macho man attitude nowhere in sight.

"Mr Reynolds, I got all I hoped for from this meeting. But as for you, gentlemen," she said with a whistle. "You can all explain at the police station," she turned towards the entrance expectedly and called out, "Officers!" Several men in police uniform walked into the room. "I believe these men are yours now," she said to their leader.

"Thank you, Miss Billings, we will take it from here," the leader said. "Gentlemen, please work with us and don't try anything funny." He nodded at the five culprits as the officers cuffed them.

What a bunch of idiots! MJ thought with a snarl. She had no proof that they were stealing from her, all she did was follow-up on Anita's suspicions about stolen money from the company and then checked all the stuff members' bank transactions while comparing them to their monthly and annual salaries along their bonuses.

There was no clause about retrieving or forfeiting their shares, but the shareholders incriminated themselves, and once they confessed, she would finally be rid of them.

"Detective." MJ gave a firm nod and then left the boardroom with Jorge, Sandra, and Cameron in tow. "Jorge," she said once they reached her office. Sandra and Jorge entered, while Cameron remained at the reception desk outside her office.

"Yes?" A distressed Jorge answered with his hands in his pockets.

MJ dropped her files on her desk and then started packing up her stuff. "I need you to start drawing up contracts of termination and transfer of shares, I need them signed, sealed, and delivered by the end of this week. When you are done, you can drop the charges of theft against them, the state will deal with the tax issue."

"I will get on it before leaving for Cape Town."

"Good." She picked up her handbag and a few files before turning her attention to Jorge and Sandra. "For now, we are all going to the sister branch to make a few announcements and settle a few things, I need to get this place running by the end of next week."