Chapter 127 The Vote #2
"My marriage to Teresa Mason is completely unassailable. We are lawfully, bindingly wed under the seals of the State of New York. We are cohabitating under the same roof. We are actively building a real life together in the shadows.
The accelerated timeline was driven entirely by my father’s rapidly destabilizing health and my fierce desire to honor the stability clause of his will before his heart stopped beating. But the love beneath our roof is absolute."
"Can your office present concrete data to prove the legitimacy of that sentiment?" Chen pressed coldly.
"I am legally and personally obligated to prove absolutely nothing to this table regarding my private life," Carlos hissed softly, his baritone turning dangerous, vibrating with an iron authority.
"My marriage belongs entirely to my wife and me. It completely satisfies every single legal requirement dictated by my father's will, and it has successfully cleared probate. That is the only metric that carries relevance to this boardroom."
Justin surged to his feet, buttoning his jacket as he took the floor, cutting off the friction before it could boil over. "If I may, I would like to deliver the final executive summary to the board."
Carlos sat back into the leather cushions, his jaw locked tight as his cousin stepped around the head of the mahogany table, commanding the room with a practiced, sovereign poise.
"Carlos’s presentation is entirely accurate on one critical metric," Justin stated, his voice measured, smooth, and absolute as he paced the glass windows.
He has single-handedly engineered a highly impressive asset holding firm in Australia.
Mason Capital Holdings is phenomenally successful, highly profitable, and masterfully managed under his command.
My office does not dispute his intellectual capacity for a single second.
But success in an alternative private equity model does not automatically translate to competency on the board of directors of a global infrastructure dynasty."
Justin stopped pacing, leaning his hands flat against the back of a leather chair as his piercing gaze pinned the table.
"Mason Industries is currently traversing a highly critical operational juncture. We are actively expanding our manufacturing grids into untested European territories. We are investing billions of dollars into high-risk automated technologies.
We are navigating extreme federal regulatory challenges and intense competitive pressures. This dynasty desperately requires compliance-driven directors who fully comprehend our specialized industry, our internal networks, and our structural hurdles.
Executives who can contribute to our macro-strategic direction immediately without a learning curve. Leaders who have been an active piece of our internal journey and understand exactly where the supply lines are going."
He turned his body, his eyes locking directly into Carlos's unyielding gaze.
"Carlos has been completely estranged from our infrastructure for five long years. He does not possess an alignment with our current domestic networks. He doesn't know our manufacturing teams.
He is entirely blind to the intense strategic compromises we have executed to protect our market cap over the last half-decade. Injecting his volatile voice onto this board right now would be highly disruptive to our administration.
It would construct a dangerous instability at a precise fiscal moment where our shareholders demand absolute focus and continuity."
Justin turned back to face the legacy old guard, executing his final strategic maneuver.
"I am not standing here stating that Carlos Mason should be permanently locked out of a director seat. I am simply arguing that he must earn the hand on the wheel. He should initiate his return within a real operational role - a senior vice presidency of strategic planning, perhaps.
Let him learn our internal networks. Let him prove his long-term stability to the asset managers. And then, when he has successfully demonstrated his alignment with our sector, this table can revisit the boardroom petition."
Carlos felt a hot surge of pure, raw fury ignite in his chest, but he forced his frame to remain completely still. A vice presidency as a consolation prize. Justin was trying to cage him.
"That is an exceptionally balanced operational compromise," Reyes murmured from down the table, nodding slowly. "Carlos, how does your office calculate a response to the CEO's proposition?"
Carlos surged back to his feet, his massive frame towering over the table as his baritone rang out like thunder.
"I would state to this room that Justin is deploying a transparent delay tactic to protect his absolute sovereignty! I hold title to thirty-five percent of this multi-billion-dollar empire. That is not a marginal allocation; that is a massive,
dominant ownership concentration that demands direct boardroom representation under the law. Justin is requesting that I spend two years proving my value within a middle-management vice presidency, but my value has already been completely verified by the global markets.