Chapter 7: The First Board Meeting
1496 Words
Chapter 7: The First Board Meeting
Seraphina’s POV
The morning of the board meeting was unusually quiet at Gabriel’s estate, and I spent an extra twenty minutes in my new office reviewing the secret files I had recovered from the floorboards of my old home before Julian could find them. Marcus was already waiting for me by the car with a tablet in his hand and a very satisfied look on his face, and as we pulled up to the Valerius Enterprises headquarters, I saw Julian’s car parked crookedly in the executive lot as if he had arrived in a massive hurry.
"Julian has been in the building for an hour and he has been seen trying to convince the major shareholders that the Apex merger is already a done deal, so he is in for quite a shock when he sees the actual agenda for today," Marcus said as he held the elevator door open for me, and I adjusted my blazer while checking my reflection in the polished metal.
"Let him talk for now because the higher he builds his own platform, the further he has to fall when I pull the rug out from under him," I replied, and we stepped out onto the top floor where the heavy oak doors of the boardroom were already closed.
I didn't wait for a secretary to announce me and I just pushed the doors open, walking straight to the head of the table and taking the high-backed leather chair that used to belong to Julian’s father, while the ten board members looked up with expressions ranging from pure shock to hidden amusement.
"Mrs. Valerius, what are you doing in that seat? Because this is a private meeting for the directors and I believe you were escorted out of this building months ago," one of the older men, Mr. Henderson, said as he adjusted his glasses and looked toward the empty seat where Julian was supposed to be.
"My name is Seraphina Thorne-Valerius now, and if you check your updated shareholder registry that was sent out this morning, you will see that Apex Group owns seventy percent of the voting shares in this company, which makes me the Chairperson of this board," I told him, and I laid my tablet on the table and signaled for Marcus to start the presentation.
The door burst open and Julian walked in with a coffee in one hand and a stack of papers in the other, and he was smiling as he said, "Sorry I’m late, gentlemen, but I was finalizing some details for our new growth strategy that is going to save us from this temporary slump."
He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me sitting in his chair, and his face went from a healthy tan to a sickly shade of white as he looked at the board members who were all staring at him in silence.
"Seraphina, get out of my chair right now and stop playing these games in front of my investors, because I don't know how you got past security but I am calling them to have you removed immediately," Julian hissed, slamming his papers onto the table.
"Sit down, Julian, and try to listen for once in your life because I am currently the only thing standing between you and a total bankruptcy filing," I said, and I didn't even raise my voice as I pointed to the chair at the far end of the table, "We are going to go over your 'New Growth' plan and I am going to show this board why every single projection you made is a lie."
"You don't know what you're talking about, because I spent weeks on those numbers and Elena even helped me organize the marketing data!" Julian shouted, finally taking a seat because he realized the board members weren't jumping to his defense.
"That is exactly the problem, Julian, because on page five of your report, you have listed a projected revenue increase of twenty percent based on a contract with a supplier that went out of business last year, and on page twelve, you have completely ignored the ten million dollar interest payment due to Apex Group next month," I explained, scrolling through the slides on the screen while the board members began to murmur and shake their heads.
"Those are just minor clerical errors that can be fixed, and I’m sure once the merger happens, those debts will be internalized," Julian argued, but his voice was losing its confidence and he started to sweat through his shirt.
"There is no merger, Julian, because Apex Group has no interest in merging with a failing company, and instead, we are going to talk about the liquidation of your personal assets to cover the losses you've caused over the last six months," I said, and the room went cold as Julian realized that I wasn't there to negotiate.
While I was speaking, Julian’s phone on the table began to buzz incessantly with text messages from Elena, and since the screen was facing up, I could see her messages demanding to know why her credit cards were being declined at the jewelry store and accusing him of hiding money from her.
"Is there a problem, Julian, because it seems like your mistress is having a bit of a financial crisis while we are trying to discuss the future of this firm?" I asked, and the board members looked at his phone with looks of pure disgust.
Julian grabbed the phone and shoved it into his pocket, his face turning a dark shade of red, and he stood up and leaned over the table toward me, shouting, "You think you're so smart because you bought some shares and married my uncle, but you're still just the woman I threw out of my house, and I am going to make sure you regret the day you ever tried to cross me!"
He lost his grip on his temper completely and lunged across the table as if he were going to grab my throat, but before he could even get close, the side door opened and two of Gabriel’s massive security guards stepped in and caught Julian by the arms, pinning him back against his chair.
Gabriel walked into the room a second later, looking calm and perfectly tailored in a charcoal suit, and he didn't even look at Julian as he walked over to my side and placed a hand on the back of my chair.
"I hope I'm not interrupting the business portion of the meeting, but I heard some shouting and I wanted to make sure that the board understood one very important rule," Gabriel said, and his voice was like ice as he looked around the room at the nervous directors.
"And what rule is that, Gabriel?" Mr. Henderson asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"Any disrespect or threat of violence directed toward my wife is a direct declaration of war against me and the entire Valerius legacy that I represent, so if any of you have a problem with her leadership, you can leave your resignations on the table right now," Gabriel stated, and the room was so quiet that nobody even dared to breathe.
Julian was panting and staring at Gabriel with a look of betrayal, and he whispered, "She’s using you, Uncle, can't you see that she's just doing this to get back at me?"
"She doesn't need to use me to destroy you, Julian, because you did that all by yourself when you forgot who was actually running your company for the last seven years," Gabriel replied, and then he looked at me and asked, "Are you finished with him for today, Seraphina, or do you have more bad news to deliver?"
"I think Julian needs some time to go home and explain to Elena why they are being evicted from the penthouse tomorrow morning," I said, and I watched as Julian’s eyes went wide with a new kind of fear.
He was escorted out of the room by the guards, and as the door closed behind him, I turned back to the board and started to discuss the new restructuring plan, but my mind was stuck on the way Julian had looked at me right before he left.
It wasn't just anger in his eyes anymore, it was a desperate kind of madness, and as I walked out of the building an hour later with Gabriel, a black van with tinted windows was idling at the curb, and as it pulled away, I saw the face of the woman Julian had been meeting in secret—the one from the floorboard photos—and she was holding a folder that had my name written on it in red ink.
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