Chapter 8 - THE BOARDROOM COUP
While Nathaniel’s personal life was a smoking crater, the sharks were circling his professional empire.
Rumors of the CEO's erratic behavior had reached the board of directors. A hostile faction, led secretly by his own mother, Eleanor, called for an emergency vote of no confidence. They argued that Nathaniel’s grief had made him unstable, unfit to manage sixty billion dollars of shareholder equity.
The morning of the meeting, Nathaniel sat in his office, staring blankly at the Manhattan skyline. He didn't care. They could take the company. He had built an empire, but it was nothing but a tomb.
His secretary buzzed in. "Mr. Cole? An envelope just arrived for you by standard mail. It’s marked personal."
"Leave it," he rasped.
But when he glanced at the plain white envelope an hour later, he recognized the neat, precise handwriting. Elena.
He tore it open with shaking hands. Inside was a cashier's check for ten thousand dollars—the exact amount of the severance pay his accounting department had auto-wired her upon her termination.
Attached was a small sticky note.
I don't want your money, Nathaniel. I only ever wanted to see you smile again. I'm sorry for the pain I caused. Tell Walter to remember Lily's duck is under the sofa. — E.
Something inside Nathaniel snapped. The ruthless, unstoppable energy that had built Cole Enterprises surged back to life, not fueled by cold ambition, but by a desperate, burning fire.
He stood up, bypassed the boardroom where fifty executives were waiting to oust him, and walked straight to the elevator.
May you like
"Mr. Cole!" his lead counsel shouted, running after him. "The vote is in five minutes! Where are you going?"
"Let them vote!" Nathaniel barked, stepping into the elevator. "If they want the throne, they can have it. I have to go fix my real life."
