Chapter 16 - THE VOTE
Margaret did not deny it.
“I called the vote.”
“Why?”
“Because the company needs separation from the Mercer scandal.”
“You stood beside Conrad yesterday.”
“I know.”
“And now you want my job?”
“No.”
She handed him a folder.
“I want the board to remove every Cole and Mercer from executive control.”
Independent management plan.
Family voting limitations.
“You want to dismantle the dynasty.”
Margaret gave a tired smile.
“You said we keep choosing the company over people.”
“So?”
“So maybe the company survives better without us.”
He had expected betrayal.
Instead, his mother had finally understood.
The next morning the boardroom was packed.
Conrad appeared by video from custody.
Victoria did not appear.
“I support the motion.”
Half the room erupted.
“You understand you’ll lose control.”
“Yes.”
“Your family built this company.”
“My family also corrupted it.”
“I am not giving my daughter an empire poisoned by people who think blood makes them untouchable.”
The vote passed by one seat.
Nathan was removed as CEO.
Margaret resigned from the board.
Mercer family voting rights were suspended pending fraud review.
The stock fell again.
Reporters surrounded him.
“Do you regret exposing your family?”
“No.”
“Was it worth billions?”
“Yes.”
A reporter shouted, “What will you do now?”
“Learn how to be a father.”
That clip went viral before dinner.
But the legal battle was not over.
Conrad’s attorneys filed an emergency petition challenging Nathan’s paternity.
They claimed Grace had manipulated the DNA sample.
Then they attacked Grace’s custody.
This time with a psychiatric report signed five years earlier.
It diagnosed Grace with paranoid delusions and “fixation on Nathan Cole.”
“I’ve never met this doctor.”
His father’s private psychiatrist.
Hale checked the date.
The report was written two weeks before Lily was born.
Nathan whispered, “They were preparing to take her from you.”
A court order was attached.
May you like
But already signed by a judge.
The same judge was still on the bench.
