Chapter 15 - The Vote
Eleven days after the hearing, we met in a plain conference room overlooking a parking garage.
Mara checked the notice requirements and trust authority. Northstar's fifty-one percent interest mattered only if we followed the rules. Independent counsel reviewed the process.
Marcus entered with Victor Sloane and three board members who had spent years nodding along with him. He looked rested. I envied that.
"Ivy," he said, spreading his hands. "We can settle this privately. You're still my wife."
"That's a legal fact," I answered. "Not a reason to trust you."
Arthur appeared behind him, leaning on a cane. Eleanor had chosen to stay away. She had given investigators what she knew and declined to play family theater for the cameras.
The motion before the members was clear: replace the directors who had refused independent review and install an interim board empowered to investigate the disputed transfers. Marcus argued that losing him would destroy the company. Mara presented the existing governance agreement, the court's preservation order, and our properly submitted voting documents.
Northstar voted yes. A smaller investor joined us. The motion carried.
Marcus stood so fast his chair hit the wall.
"You have no idea what you're doing," he shouted.
"You're right about one thing," I said. "I don't know everything. That's why the new board will hire people who ask questions."
The interim board suspended Marcus from executive duties pending investigation and placed access to critical systems under independent control. He hadn't been convicted of anything. He was no longer free to run Vale Meridian as his private wallet.
For one breathtaking moment I thought he might cry.
Instead, he smiled at Arthur.
"Tell her," Marcus said. "Tell her where the original inspection tapes are."
Arthur's knuckles went white around his cane.
"What tapes?" I asked.
May you like
Marcus walked to the door and looked back.
"The ones your mother begged me never to show you."
