The following morning,I called an emergency board meeting at seven a.m. before everyone else showed up and spilled the beans to my grandmother. Finn stood near the window of the boardroom overlooking the city.
“You sure you want to do this?” he asked.
“I’ve never been more sure about anything. Well,except for Samantha. In a few minutes, I’m going to dismantle the illusion she’d spent decades building.”
“And you think the board is just going to get rid of her?” he asked.
“Once they hear how she hand-chose members who could be easily manipulated? Yes.”
The board members filtered into the room one by one and took their seats.
“Where’s Evelyn?” James looked around.
“She won’t be joining us today,” I said.
“What is with this early meeting, Wes?” David asked.
“Does Evelyn even know about this meeting?” Susan asked.
“She does not,” I said, folding my hands on the table.
“Weston, what is going on?” Richard leaned forward with narrowed eyes. “Since the start of this company, your grandmother has never missed a board meeting. She always had great influence over this board.”
“You mean manipulation.” I tapped the button, and the recording began.
Each board member sat there and listened. I could see the anger on their faces. Susan gasped, and Richard ran his hand down his face. Once the recording ended, they all stared at me.
“She never trusted any of us to think for ourselves,” Susan said.
“No, she didn’t.” I shook my head.
“She called your fiancée trash,” David said. “Who says that to their grandson?”
“Evelyn has spent decades building this board based on loyalty to her and her only. Manipulating you, your ideas, getting you to make you do what she wanted. I want to build one on trust.”
“What are you asking from us?” Michael asked.
“As CEO of Castile Properties, I’m formally requesting a vote to remove Evelyn Castile from the board.”
“I’m fine with that,” Susan said, raising her hand.
The rest of the board stirred in their seats.
“Listen,” Susan said. “You heard the way she spoke to Wes. The horrible things she said to him. And you also heard what she said about us. We’ve been played, and it’s time we listened to Wes. Do we really want that kind of woman having influence over this company? Weston is young. He’s getting married and has a child on the way. He is the face of this company now, and in the last quarter, our stock prices shot up higher than they’d ever been. He’s doing something right. I vote yes.”
“I second the vote.” David raised his hand.
I let out a breath as each board member voted yes to remove my grandmother.
“I’ll call an emergency board meeting for later this afternoon. Does four o’clock work for everyone?” Michael asked.
“Yes.” They all nodded.
After they left, Finn walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder.
“You did it, man. You finally did it. Congratulations.”
“Thanks. It had to be done.”
