Aaron cleared his throat, breaking through the deafening silence cloaking the room. “If you’d open your folders, you will see a copy of the email between C.E. Stuart, Inc.’s CEO and Mr. Bull Hamilton detailing the terms of Mr. Hamilton, Sr.’s future employment. The next page behind that is a copy of the trust Mrs. Logan created to be executed at the time of her death. The highlighted portions detail that Mr. Hamilton, Sr. can sell and purchase on behalf of the company. He is not, however, allowed to make deals that will only benefit him personally at the expense of thecompany.”
“You hacked into my personal email?” Bullquestioned.
“You’ve been sloppy over the last few years, Bull,” Slade answered. “You’ve been so ensconced in your delusion that no one can stop you, you started making silly mistakes. That may be your private email, but you opened it and transmitted responses to it from an L.I. computer, using our network. If you’ll look at the bylaws of the company, all communications over our server are subject tomonitoring.”
Slade could see Bull’s ire rising as his complexion turned from pale to crimson. The old man knew he was caught, and he was pissed about it. As much as Slade was enjoying watching Bull get what he deserved, he was more concerned with getting him out of his building and hislife.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here, but there’s no detriment to the company. It doesn’t matter if C.E. Stuart is offering me a position. If L.I. makes a profit from the sale, there’s nothing you can do to touchme.”
“L.I. would be paid lots of money, but not a profit. Not really. If you’ll all turn to the final page in your folders, you’ll see an appraisal of Venus’ assets and worth. When broken down into actual dollar amounts, the sum you agreed to is fifty cents on thedollar.”
Slade didn’t have to watch them to know the board members were scouring the appraisal affidavit. The undervaluing of the company in the sale would have cost them each millions. The board might follow Bull, but only if he was making themmoney.
“We’d lose our rights to Venus and its products and only make half of what it was worth. That’s not a profit, that is a deficit. That means you were attempting to rob us. In your hurry to secure the position with our competitor, you didn’t do your due diligence in figuring out the numbers. You firedyourself.”
“Fired?” Bull huffed. “You can’t fire me. Venus is one small part of this company. I have made so much money for this company. Who else will lead it? You certainly can’t, not for the next five years. Your grandmother made certain of that when she created thetrust.”
“Actually,” Aaron interrupted, “the trust doesn’t actually preclude Slade from taking the reins of the company. It just says that he has up until the age of forty years to take his place as CEO. You had your lawyers interpret that as he can’t run his own company until then, but really, it can be interpreted in severalways.”
Slade pressed a button on the intercom and returned his attention to Bull. “Aaron has secured an injunction preventing you from making any more decisions as CEO and giving me control of my company. My first act as CEO is to take out thetrash.”
Two large men dressed in matching navy blue jackets walked into the office, flanking Bull on bothsides.
“Security will escort you from the building. Any personal items you may have will be packed and forwarded to you. Have a good day, Mr. Hamilton. Logan Industries thanks you for yourservice.”
Bull’s lip curled into a snarl. He looked almost ready to jump across the table to strangle Slade, but the two burly men standing beside Bull seemed to make him think twice about it. Instead, Bull rose slowly, taking a moment to glare at Slade before he walked toward thedoor.
“I promise you will regret this,” Bull uttered before he walked through the doorway and was escorted to theelevators.
Slade rose from his seat, walked slowly around the length of the table and took the seat that used to belong to hisfather.
“If we’re done with the entertainment portion of the hour, let’s get back to business, shallwe?”
* * *
Mandisa was bored out of her mind. She kept looking at the door like a diabetic does a fat slice of cake, like it was her saving grace and her downfall all wrapped into one. After spending so much time in the wide-open fields of Slade’s ranch, being bottled up in his office made hertwitchy.
Who would have thought three weeks of fresh air and a good man by her side would make her want to run from work? Well, she didn’t want to run from all of her work. She’d enjoyed mixing up scents the other day for Slade. She couldn’t wait to give him the final settled products tonight. He’d enjoyed the quick massage oil she’d made and used on him. But the body butter and cologne always smelled better once they’d cooled and settled for a fewdays.
She stood up, rubbing her restless hands against her legs, and walked to the window. The closer she got to the end date, the more she wanted to say to hell with it all and just lose herself in Slade and the world he offeredher.
But you can’t. They needyou.
Before she could continue with her thought, she heard her phone ringing. The name “Ash,” flashed across herscreen.
“Hey Ash,” she answered. “What’s my friendly neighborhood contractor doing callingme?”
“Hey, Mandisa,” Ash replied. “I was just about to go order the paint for the store. I know Kandi ordered the exact same color you guys have now. But the last time you and I spoke, you told me you wanted to revamp the store and go with that red-and-black theme I showed you. Have you changed your mind? Or should I just go with Kandi’sselection?”
“I’m sorry, Ash,” Mandisa answered. “I’ve been on vacation for a little while. Why don’t you start from thebeginning?”
“Well, since the break-in and vandalism, this would be the perfect time to implement the new theme. I just figured in all the craziness to get this place up and running as soon as possible, you’d forgotten to mention it toKandi.”
Break-in? Cold ran through Mandisa. What the hell was going on in NewYork?
“Ash, I know you always take before pics for your website. Can you forward them to me so I can make a final decision about the plans we talked about a couple of months ago? How long before you need mydecision?”
“Uh, I can put it off until tomorrow. But your new business associate, Aaron. He’s been hounding me to get things done ASAP. He hired three of my crews to get the store done by the end of the week. Frankly, he’s a little bit scary, and I don’t want to piss himoff.”
