Chapter 4 - THE SHADOW IN THE BOARDROOM
How My Quiet Wife Took Control of My Multi-Million Dollar Firm While I Chased an AffairBy day three of his new reality, William was living in a cheap motel on the outskirts of the city, funded by the meager five-hundred-dollar weekly allowance Sarah’s lawyers had graciously allowed him.
The room smelled of stale cigarettes and cheap bleach. It was a far cry from the Pacific Heights townhouse, but William had bigger problems.
His phone rang. It was an unknown number. He answered it instantly.
"Sarah?"
"No, Mr. Vance. This is Elizabeth Sterling."
William’s stomach plummeted. Elizabeth Sterling was the most feared divorce attorney in Northern California. She didn't represent clients; she dismantled lives. If Sterling was on the phone, it meant Sarah wasn't looking for a settlement. She was looking for total annihilation.
"I want to speak to my wife, Elizabeth," William said, trying to sound firm.
"Your wife has nothing to say to you, William. But she has asked me to deliver a message regarding the upcoming board meeting of Vance & Associates."
"I’ve been suspended. I have no power there right now."
"Oh, it's much worse than that," Sterling said, a faint chuckle in her voice. "You see, when you started Vance & Associates, your father-in-law provided the initial seed capital of two million dollars. In exchange, he received forty percent of the non-voting shares."
William frowned. "Yes. But those are non-voting. I hold the controlling sixty percent of the voting shares. The board cannot make any major decisions without me."
"They couldn't," Sterling corrected. "But during your trip to Cabo, you signed a power of attorney document for your wife, allowing her to manage your personal and professional affairs while you were 'unavailable.' Do you remember signing that, William?"
William’s mind flashed back to the night before he left. He had been so eager to get on the plane, so desperate to escape the crying baby and Sarah’s exhausted face, that when she handed him a stack of "routine business disclosures" to sign, he had barely looked at them. He had scribbled his signature on the bottom line while murmuring, "Yes, yes, whatever you need, honey."
"That was for the house!" William stammered. "For the remodeling permits!"
"It was a general power of attorney, drafted by my office," Sterling said smoothly. "And on Monday morning, your wife used that power of attorney to transfer your voting shares into a blind trust managed by her father. As of right now, Sarah Vance controls eighty percent of Vance & Associates."
William felt the room spin.
The firm he had spent twelve years building, the designs that had won him international awards, the legacy he wanted to pass down to his son—it was no longer his.
"She can't do this," he whispered. "It's a conflict of interest. It's fraud!"
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"It is entirely legal, Mr. Vance. You signed the document in the presence of a notary—whom your wife brought to the house, if you recall. You gave her the keys to your kingdom, and she simply unlocked the gates. Have a wonderful afternoon."
The line went dead.
