Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
VINDICTIVE AS FUCK
Jett
He has the nerve to sit at the head of the conference table. Even though I’ve yet to visit Stonebridge headquarters in person, I have a feeling he’s in Patrick’s spot.
I’ll never forget the look on his face.
It’s vague, but distinct enough that I catch it. I might have missed it had I not been lasered in on him the moment the video conference goes live.
He sees me and his expression goes from smug to fuck me in a heartbeat.
Yeah, you’re spot on, little Lex. I’m alive, healthy, and vindictive as fuck.
Patrick starts things off.
“What can I say? The idea of this contract with Helix Dominion started when I was sick and wasn’t myself.
When Allen Foster was removed for his transgressions, to put it mildly, I thought the idea of Stonebridge contracting with a company like Helix Dominion would die off.
It’s no secret where I stand on the issue and how I will cast my vote today.
To partner with a company so new, and quite frankly, little to no transparency, is not good.
It’s not good for the company I started, its shareholders, or the future.
” Patrick pulls in a deep breath before finishing.
“This contract has been discussed and cussed for far too long. Unless anyone has anything to add before we get to the vote, I say let’s move forward. ”
Lex Warner stands and leans forward to place his hands flat on the table. “I have something to say. The board didn’t move to block your little girl when you put her on the board.”
Harlow sits up straight. “Did you just call me a little girl?”
A few of the board members stir in their seats, and Warner doesn’t apologize or look contrite. In fact, he doesn’t even acknowledge her and keeps talking as if he didn’t just offend her.
“As I was saying, you’re stacking the board with your children. Hell, who knows how many more you have out there. This is nepotism at its finest.”
Patrick’s tone cools even further. “You’re really pushing the boundaries, Lex. If you address my daughter by anything other than Ms. Madison from now until her wedding day, we will have an issue—or I should say another one. Don’t test me more than you already have.”
Warner pushes off the table to stand straight and smirks. “It’s a board member’s job to question and do what’s right for the company. This deal will catapult Stonebridge’s bottom line into new territory.”
“There are other clients,” Patrick argues. “There are other clients out there who need the advances we’ve made in intelligence, and those clients do not skate the edge of right and wrong. If that’s not important to you, you need to check yourself.”
Lex spears a glare around the room before settling it on me.
His ire and hatred emanates from coast to coast through the screen.
He pushes off the table to stand straight and crosses his arms. “I see we’re not on the same page with the facts.
I can go back to the table and buy us a few more days to get the information you need to make you feel more comfortable with Helix. I propose we delay the vote.”
I don’t budge from where I’m reclined in my conference chair. I’m in another suit—the only other one I own. If I’m really diving into corporate life, I need to up my wardrobe game.
It’s time I insert myself. “That’s quite a turn of events from the other day.”
Lex’s stare on me intensifies. “That was before. It seems some on the board need additional education on the topic—yourself included.”
“Are you sure that’s it?” I sit up and lean my forearms on the table. Fuck, how I wish we were in the same room so I could feed off his anxious energy. “Or is it that you failed your most recent attempt at claiming a majority of the votes?”
A woman sitting to his right frowns at Lex. “Attempt? No one approached me, and I do not plan to vote with you.”
“There was no attempted anything,” Lex bites. “If I have a chance to save this contract, I will. If that means delaying the vote to make sure all parties are satisfied, then so be it.”
I shake my head. “You don’t have the support to delay the decision.
I can say with certainty that you weren’t expecting every party to show up today and the vote would go your way.
That’s not going to happen. Besides shutting this contract down for good, there’s only one thing that will make me satisfied with the situation. ”
“That’s awfully ballsy of you.” A man flanking Warner at the conference table points at me as he speaks. “You’re new, you have no experience in the industry, let alone in business. You have no place making demands, Cross.”
Patrick puts a hand up. “I’d be careful who you’re aligning yourself with.”
“I move we vote,” Harlow says, speeding this along. I’ve learned my sister hates the board more than anything. “This has been on the calendar long enough to gather all the information we need to decide. Nothing has changed other than the fact Lex Warner’s day isn’t going to end the way he planned.”
“You have a lot of nerve, girl—” Lex starts.
I interrupt. “And you said I was ballsy. Patrick warned you once. If I were in the same state as you, you wouldn’t be standing right now. Don’t even glance in Harlow’s direction again. I don’t know how you’ve lasted this long on the board being so misogynistic. That ends today.”
Lex’s complexion reddens with anger. “How many agree to postpone?”
Three hands.
I smile. “You lost a vote. Looks like your supporters are dwindling. I’d bet after today, you’ll lose the rest. And if you don’t, then we need to reassess the representation of Stonebridge.”
A vein bulges at his temple to a point it’s visible over the live feed. He turns to the man who changed his vote and verbally attacks him.
Any stranger looking in would say this idiot is digging his own grave, but Patrick and Harlow and I know better. In fact, he’s got a few more minutes of freedom, if I’ve estimated the time correctly.
We sit back and watch the drama unfold between the other six members that are back in New York at Stonebridge headquarters. What I wouldn’t do to be there right now.
Harlow leans over to me and mutters, “If only The Daily Market Report could stream this live.”
“Especially with what’s coming.” I agree but am interrupted by a knock at the boardroom door.
The next thing we see is Chrissie standing in the open doorway. “Excuse me—”
“We’re not fucking done!” Lex bellows.
Chrissie isn’t taken aback by his behavior. She tips her head to the side and smiles. “I’m afraid you are. The police are here.”
Lex freezes and schools his features. “Who?”
“The po-lice,” she sounds out the word slowly for him. “They need to speak with you, Mr. Warner.”
But he doesn’t have time to say anything else—argue, agree, or scream from the rooftops. Two men in suits walk through the door. Four more in uniform follow.
“You can’t come in here. What’s the meaning of this?” Lex demands.
One of the men in a suit holds up a badge and credentials. “I’m a detective from the New York Police Department. Lex Warner, you’re under arrest for attempted murder and aggravated assault. You have the right to remain silent—”
One of the uniformed officers moves in with handcuffs.
Warner backs away from them in an angry panic. “This is fucking insane. You can’t arrest me. I haven’t done anything wrong!”
“Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law.”
The officer grabs his arm, but Warner pulls away. The remaining board members get up to make room when a chair is knocked over sideways. A second officer steps in to assist.
“You have the right to talk to a lawyer—”
Warner jerks and fights, but the officers have him face down on the conference table in no time. His cheek lands on the wood with a thud as one of the officers holds him down and the other cuffs him.
Snap.
Snap.
I smile as the sound resonates through the live stream. The detective continues to read him his rights as Warner continues to declare that he has no fucking idea how this happened.
The IP address used to place the order for the gift basket says otherwise.
So do his cell phone records contacting someone in Seattle to inject the food with the plant derivative Virexin that is toxic to humans.
The car used to deliver it is registered to a man who is related to the asshole in Seattle.
A chain of contacts so long, someone will spill to save themselves. If not, there’s enough evidence with every step to put them all away.
Patrick leans forward to rest his hands on the conference table. “You will not fuck with my family again, Lex.”
The officers pull him upright to take him away. Warner’s hair is askew, and his face is beet red. “I’ll get you for this, Madison. I’ll come after you and your fucking kids. This isn’t the end of it. I’m not going down for this, dammit!”
“You are,” Patrick says. “And it’s only a matter of time until you’re off the board. Not that you have any power from jail.”
They drag Warner out of the room in dramatic fashion. Even through the live feed, we hear him yelling and screaming until Chrissie closes the door to the conference room.
The remaining board members on the east coast look around at one another, not knowing what to do now.
Patrick takes charge of the meeting once more. “No one crosses me or my family and gets away with it. It’s happened twice now, and both times their heinous acts have come to light. Feel free to spread this warning far and wide: do not fuck with my family, and do not fuck with my company.”
The board members glance around at each other. A few of them mutter under their breaths before focusing back on us.