Chapter 6 - The Emergency Boardroom TakeoverBy midnight, the grand ballroom was empty of guests, replaced by federal forensic accountants and corporate lawyers. Sophie was resting peacefully in the presidential suite upstairs, her cut stitched up neatly by a private doctor, clutching a giant teddy bear that Arthur Pendelton had rushed out to buy her.
I stood at the head of the mahogany conference table on the top floor of the Thornton Tower.
The emergency board of directors sat in terrified silence. These were the men and women who had enabled Preston and Margaret for years, turning a blind eye to their corruption in exchange for kickbacks.
"Good evening, gentlemen," I said, opening my laptop. The projector screen behind me lit up with a detailed financial forensic audit of Thornton Global Logistics.
"Madam Chairwoman," the lead independent director stammered, sweating profusely despite the cool air conditioning. "We... we had no idea about Preston's illegal operations in the overseas shipping division."
"Save your excuses," I interrupted, my voice sharp enough to draw blood. "Ignorance is not an acceptable defense on my board. Effective immediately, every single executive who signed off on the falsified logistics reports is terminated without severance or pension."
"You can't do that! We have employment contracts!" one executive protested.
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I slid a thick legal binder across the table. "Look at page fourteen. Those are your personal signatures authorizing the bribery of port inspectors in three different countries. You can either resign quietly and spend the next ten years out of prison, or I hand this file directly to the Department of Justice alongside Preston's."
The room went dead silent. One by one, pens scratched against resignation letters. In less than twenty minutes, I had thoroughly purged the infection that had rotted the company from the inside out.
