Chapter 6 - Checkmate
Harold slammed his fist onto the table, standing up in a rage. "Security! Remove these intruders immediately! This is a private board meeting!"
The four security guards didn't move an inch. One of them subtly adjusted his jacket, revealing a badge that belonged to Vance’s private firm, not the Ashford building staff.
"Sit down, Harold," Marcus Vance said smoothly, opening the blue ledger. "As of eight o'clock this morning, Mrs. Emily Ashford has exercised the emergency clause of her late father's equity agreement. Her thirty-million-dollar trust held forty-two percent of voting shares in Ashford Global. Yesterday afternoon, she purchased an additional fifteen percent from distressed institutional investors."
The board members gasped in unison, looking at each other in utter shock.
"That means..." one senior director stuttered, "Mrs. Ashford holds fifty-seven percent majority control of this corporation!"
Harold’s knees gave out, and he fell back heavily into his leather executive chair. "No... that's impossible! You don't have the capital!"
Emily leaned forward in her wheelchair, her dark eyes fixated on her father-in-law with ruthless dominance.
"I had the capital the entire time, Harold," Emily said, her voice clear, calm, and commanding. "My father taught me never to reveal my full strength until my enemy revealed their full weakness. You thought I was just a naive girl who married your son for status. The reality is, your company was surviving on my father's credit lines for the last three years."
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She gestured toward Marcus Vance, who pulled a document from his briefcase.
"By authority of the majority shareholder," Vance declared, "Harold Ashford is officially terminated from his position as Chairman and CEO of Ashford Global, effective immediately. Furthermore, all corporate credit cards, security clearances, and executive privileges are revoked."
