Her Suspected Billionaire

Chapter 18

The wide doors to the conference room of Sterling Industries swung open and Evan walked in briskly, with Alice following behind. The board of directors were already seated in their respective seats around the large and sturdy glass table and were discussing among themselves. They seemed to fall quiet when they noticed Evan had walked in. He over to his chair at the head of his table and sat down while Alice took a seat beside him.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you all for coming to this meeting at such short notice," Evan greeted.

"What's the whole fuss all about? You just like to keep people on their toes, don't you?" a voice at the end of the table said. Everyone turned in the direction of the voice. A smiling Liam Sterling gave a little wave from where he sat.

​Liam Sterling was Evan and Rebecca's elder brother. He had gone to the same schools as they had, but after he was expelled for dealing drugs in Yale, their father had whisked him off to a university in France to complete his degree. After he was done, he returned to the States to manage the company. During his reign as Chief Executive Officer, he had mismanaged the company funds, retired capable staff involuntarily and almost run Sterling Industries into bankruptcy. Genevieve had finally put her foot down after her husband's death and impeached Liam from the position of Chief Executive Officer. Something he still hadn't forgiven his mother for. And since Rebecca had already moved to Switzerland at the time and was handling the branch of the company there, the position went to Evan. Liam, however, still had shares in the company and that gave him the privilege to still sit at board meetings. He hadn't sat at any since he disappeared out of the States three years ago, until today.

"Liam. What a pleasure to see you," Evan said flatly.

"Oh, come off it, brother. I know you're not glad to see me. Don't worry much about it, I'm not either and I'll be out of your hair soon," Liam said, as he walked over to where his brother sat.

"I just got the email of the board meeting and decided 'oh hey, since I'm around, I might as well come today'. So here I am," he added, patting Evan's shoulders with both hands. Then he turned and looked at Alice. When she looked back at him, he smiled and gave her a little wink.

"I see you got a new whip. What ever happened to Grace? I'm curious, brother."

"Liam, this is a board meeting, not a casual get together or family reunion," Evan said. There was a hint of anger in his tone.

"So you're gonna keep me waiting until after this boring meeting to give me the deets on how Grace left you high and dry?" Liam replied, with a chuckle Alice glanced at Evan, but he didn't look back at her.

"Liam, if you don't take a seat now..."

"What was it she did to you again? Ohh, was she really pregnant? I never got the real..." Liam began. No one saw Evan stand, but the sound his chair made when it fell to the ground startled everyone, including Liam.

"Liam and Evan Sterling, resume your positions now," Mr. Barclays, head of Accounts department and second oldest standing staff in Sterling Industries, instructed. Liam began shuffling back to his seat without saying anything. Alice got up and lifted Evan's chair from the floor.

"And no more banter, Mr. Liam Sterling. We're not here to discuss the personal affairs of the Chief Executive Officer," Mr. Barclays continued. Liam let out a loud laugh.

"Some sissy-livered CEO," he muttered.

"So, Evan, as you were saying," Mr. Barclays said, passing a file to Evan. "This is the comprehensive report of the company's expenditure and income in the past month."

"And this is the report on what the Public Relations department used the money allocated them to do," Mrs. Kelly Terrace, head of Public Relations added, passing a file to Evan's too.

​The other members at the table who came with files passed their files over as well. Evan scanned through each file quickly while the others waited patiently.

"Is this gonna take a whole day?" Liam spoke, drumming his fingers on the table.

"You're welcome to leave, Mr. Liam Sterling," Mr. Barclays informed him.

"Nah, I'm not leaving till it's over. I still have to hear what happened to Grace Shell after the meeting, remember?" Liam replied, looking at Evan. But his brother didn't raise his face from the document he was perusing and conveniently ignored him.

"Mr. Barclays, why was there a cheque of six hundred and eighty thousand dollars issued this month month to...Kings' Group?" Alice looked up at him, a shocked expression on her face. She knew there was a time Sterling Industries had done business with Kings' Group, but she also knew that that was months ago and the contract had long since been done before she'd even resigned.

"Oh, the payment was for the cotton they'd be supplying us for the production of..."

"I know for a fact that Kings' Group is not our major supplier of cotton. In fact, they aren't supplying us anything because the last time we got anything from them and used it for production, the products were so terribly inferior, we lost a huge chunk of profit," Evan cut in, his voice raised.

"Well, the contract had an authorised signature on it," Mr. Barclays continued, handing another document to Evan.

"I have never seen this document on my table. Alice, have you..." Evan was saying when his eyes landed on the signature at the bottom of the page.

"Liam Garrett Sterling, you bloody fool." Mr. Barclays and Alice, as well as everyone on the table turned to look at Liam, who was fiddling with his phone.

"What?" Liam asked, looking up on realising that everyone was staring at him.

"How did you sign a contract for supply with Kings' Group?" Mr. Barclays asked, calmly.

"Kings' Group? What...Who... Oh! The company Clinton Clark is executive chairman for? He gave a good proposal at Misty's the night we met," Liam replied, and returned his gaze back to his phone.

"Are you a fool or you just crave doing foolish things without any iota of remorse, Liam?" Evan began. "You not only signed a contract single-handedly, without consultation of the board, but you also failed to inform the appropriate offices after you had signed so we could deliberate on if to go ahead with the decision. You have shown a gross act of negligence and irresponsibility and that is a punishable offence in my book. If the board votes now, I am suggesting an indefinite suspension of Liam Gerald Sterling from the company, and retrieval of all shares he holds in the company."

"What the f**k, Evan? You don't have the right to do that!" Liam exclaimed, getting to his feet.

"If anyone is in support of this suggestion, can such person raise his or her hand?" Evan continued, looking sternly at Liam. Slowly, hands began to go up and soon there were fifteen hands raised.

"You're entitled to a vote too, Miss James," Evans said, and Alice's right hand flew up immediately. She didn't exactly care what Liam had done, but as long as he had come in contact with Clinton Clark, she didn't want anything to do with him.

"Out of eighteen members present, fifteen have voted in favour of the decision. And with that..."

"Don't speak another f*****g word, Evan."

"...you are indefinitely suspended from any affiliation with Sterling Industries..."

"Mum's not gonna like this."

"...starting immediately. Leave the premises and do not return unless summoned. You will be logged out from any online portals you were logged in to that granted you access to anything concerned with Sterling Industries." Liam was visibly upset, as he picked up his jacket and cellphone, raised his middle finger to Evan and moved it around everyone else who was seated and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

​After Liam left, the remaining members of the board deliberated on other matters concerning the company and about an hour, the meeting was over. Everyone remained seated, speaking together in hushed voices while Evan and Alice walked out of the room.