Chapter 7 - The True Heir of Pacific Oak
Raymond went pale. ""Those were legitimate consulting expenses! Gavin was researching overseas timber suppliers!""
""Gavin is currently in an interrogation room at the San Diego County Sheriff's Department,"" Harrison answered without a shred of emotion. ""He confessed to everything at two o'clock this morning in exchange for an expedited bail hearing. He handed over every bank transfer, every encrypted text message, and the exact clinic records detailing your conspiracy to present his biological child as your corporate heir.""
Harrison then slipped a certified document across the table directly in front of Raymond. ""Second, Walter invoked Article 14 of the Pacific Oak foundational charter—a clause your father personally drafted twenty years ago. In the event of fraudulent activity or criminal malfeasance by an executive shareholder, the founder’s shares revert immediately to the controlling corporate benefactor who injected the stabilizing capital.""
I stepped forward, placing my hands squarely on the back of the chairman's chair Raymond had tried to claim. ""Do you remember where that six million dollars came from sixteen years ago, Raymond? When this company was three weeks away from liquidation? It didn't come from your family's nonexistent savings. It came from the liquidation of my parents’ estate in Santa Barbara. I saved this factory. I negotiated the contracts with the West Coast distribution chains. I spent nights sleeping on the design floor while you were out at bars bragging about your family’s supposed industrial dynasty.""
Raymond looked around the room in absolute desperation. ""Mark... Stevens... tell her! We’ve worked together for ten years! You can’t let this woman take over!""
Mark Stevens, our senior factory operations director, looked Raymond dead in the eye. ""Every piece of machinery in Plant 2 has Brenda’s signature on the purchase order, Ray. You haven't stepped onto a production floor in three years unless there was a television camera following you. We know who kept the lights on.""
Harrison continued, his voice loud and clear for the official minutes. ""With Walter’s twenty-four percent permanently transferred to Brenda Miller in trust, Brenda now controls sixty-seven percent of Pacific Oak Crafting. As majority shareholder, she has called for an immediate vote of no confidence and the immediate removal of Raymond Miller as Chief Executive Officer.""
""All in favor?"" I said quietly, raising my right hand.
Around the table, every single department head, manager, and board member raised their hand without a second's hesitation.
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Raymond’s mouth opened and closed like a fish suffocating on dry sand. He looked at me, then looked at the four daughters he had sneered at outside the courthouse just twenty-four hours earlier. ""Brenda... please. We can talk about this. Think about our history. We were married for sixteen years! You can’t just strip me of my father’s company!""
""This isn't your father's company anymore, Raymond,"" I said, leaning down until my face was inches from his. ""This is the company that will pay for Gaby’s law school, Paige’s architectural degree, Maya’s engineering academy, and Zoey’s future. The four girls you told me I'd come crawling back with? They are the sole beneficiaries of the new Miller Trust. Now pick up your portfolio and get out of my building before security escorts you out in handcuffs.""
