Chapter 5 - The Showdown in the Tower
The executive boardroom of the Moretti Tower was suffocatingly quiet at eight o'clock on Monday morning.
Twelve board members sat around the forty-foot glass table, murmuring nervously as armed private security stood stationed at every exit.
Vincent sat at the head of the table, his eyes bloodshot, dark circles carved deep into his skin.
He looked like a man who hadn't slept in seventy-two hours.
Beside him sat Sophia, dressed in an immaculate white designer suit, wearing the diamond bracelet proudly on her left wrist.
"This meeting is a waste of time," Vincent rasped, rubbing his temples. "My personal marital issues have no bearing on today’s proxy ratification."
"I assure you, Mr. Moretti, it has everything to do with it," a crisp, familiar voice echoed from the heavy mahogany double doors.
Every head in the room turned.
I walked into the boardroom, flanked by Arthur Harrison and two forensic auditors from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
I wore a tailored navy dress that accentuated the gentle, unmistakable curve of my pregnancy.
Vincent bolted upright from his leather chair, the blood draining completely from his face.
"Claire... what are you doing here?"
Sophia smirked, leaning back in her chair with infuriating smugness.
"Mrs. Moretti, this is an executive governance session. Divorced spouses aren't permitted in the boardroom."
"I am not divorced yet, Miss Reynolds," I replied, stepping up to the center of the table and placing a thick leather dossier directly in front of the board chairman. "And as the sole beneficiary of the Bennett Trust, I hold the fifteen percent veto stake."
Vincent frowned, looking confused. "Claire, the Bennett stake is non-voting. You know that."
"It becomes a voting stake under Section Nine of the bylaws," Arthur Harrison announced, adjusting his glasses. "Specifically, when an officer of the company transfers corporate control to a foreign agent guilty of corporate espionage."
Sophia’s smug smile vanished.
Her back straightened instantly, her eyes darting toward the exits.
"What are you talking about?" Vincent demanded, looking between me and Sophia.
I tapped the boardroom control panel, projecting my laptop screen onto the massive eighty-inch monitor at the front of the room.
The audio recording filled the chamber.
Sophia’s voice bragging about taking down the Moretti patents echoed through the high-grade surround sound system.
Beside the audio, the SEC filing tracing her bank accounts directly to Marcus Vance’s shell corporations flashed in glaring red graphics.
The board members gasped, murmuring in outrage.
Vincent stared at the screen, his mouth open, unable to form words.
He slowly turned his head toward Sophia, the horror dawning behind his eyes like a slow-motion car crash.
"Sophia..." Vincent choked out, his voice trembling with sheer disbelief. "Is this true?"
Sophia didn't answer him.
She stood up, grabbed her designer handbag, and tried to push her way toward the door.
Two federal agents stepped into the doorway, flashing gold badges that glinted under the chandeliers.
"Sophia Reynolds," the lead agent said, stepping forward with handcuffs. "You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit commercial wire fraud and theft of intellectual property."
As the agents snapped the metal cuffs around her wrists, the eighty-six-thousand-dollar diamond bracelet caught on her sleeve, clattering loudly against the steel links.
She glared at Vincent with pure, venomous disgust.
"You really thought I loved you, you pathetic narcissist?" Sophia spat, her voice ringing across the silent room. "You were just an insecure little boy looking for someone to stroke your ego. Your wife was ten times the person you'll ever be."
The agents marched her out of the room, her high heels clicking down the hallway until the heavy doors swung shut.
Vincent sank back into his executive chair, his head in his hands, trembling violently as the entire room watched his public humiliation.
May you like
I looked at him across the glass table.
"The proxy is voided, Vincent," I said softly, the words ringing with absolute finality. "Your company is safe for our children. But you are finished."
