Part 3 — The Boardroom
At 4:27 that afternoon, Grant walked confidently into Northstar’s main boardroom. I learned later that he still believed I was going home to cry.
Instead, I was sitting at the far end of the table beside Rachel. My hair was still uneven. I had refused to hide it.
Around the table sat seven board members. Grant stopped in the doorway. His eyes found mine.
“What is this?”
Board chair Daniel Pierce, a retired banking executive in his sixties, gestured toward an empty chair. “Sit down, Grant.”
Grant looked at me again. “You called a board meeting?”
“I exercised my rights as majority voting shareholder.”
He actually smiled. “No, you didn’t. I hold your proxy.”
“Not anymore.”
The smile vanished.
Rachel slid a document across the table. “Mrs. Bennett revoked the proxy eleven weeks ago. The revocation was properly executed and recorded.”
Grant stared at the document. Then at me. “You did this behind my back?”
“I protected my legal interests.”
“We’re married.”
“Yes,” I said. “That used to mean something to me too.”
Daniel cleared his throat. “This meeting isn’t about your marriage.”
A screen at the front of the boardroom illuminated. Invoices appeared. Consulting payments. Hotel charges. Travel records. Receipts. Lauren’s company. Grant’s executive account.
Grant leaned back. “You’ve been investigating me?”
Daniel answered before I could. “The audit committee reviewed material supplied by outside counsel. We have serious questions regarding unauthorized and inadequately documented expenditures.”
Grant’s face tightened. “This is ridiculous. Lauren does marketing work.”
“Some of it appears legitimate,” Daniel said. “Some does not.”
Grant looked at me. “So this is revenge because you think I’m having an affair?”
I shook my head. “No. Your affair is personal. Corporate money isn’t.”
Then Daniel displayed another file. A security video. I didn’t watch it. I already knew what it showed. Lauren approaching me. My attempt to leave. Her grabbing my hair. The scissors. The stunned employees rushing into the hallway.
Grant’s expression changed.
Daniel turned off the screen. “We also have a major workplace liability issue involving your executive assistant.”
Grant stood. “She panicked. She made a mistake.”
“Sit down,” Daniel said.
Grant didn’t.
Daniel’s voice became firmer. “Grant, sit down.”
Slowly, my husband lowered himself into the chair. For the first time in years, I saw something unfamiliar in his face. Not confidence. Not charm. Fear.
After nearly two hours of discussion, the board voted to place Grant on administrative leave pending an independent investigation. Lauren’s employment was suspended immediately. Building access was revoked. Her consulting contracts were frozen pending review.
Grant looked at me as though I had personally destroyed him. “You planned this.”
“I planned to protect myself,” I said.
“You wanted this to happen.”
I touched the uneven ends of my hair. “You think I wanted today?”
He had no answer.
I stood. “I spent twelve years helping build this company. I spent just as long trying to protect our marriage. You confused patience with weakness.”
Then I walked out.
Grant followed me into the hallway. “Claire!”
I stopped. “What?”
His voice lowered. “You can’t just take Northstar from me.”
“I’m not taking anything from you.”
“You’re using your shares to push me out.”
“No. The board is investigating your decisions. You’ll have the same opportunity anyone else would have to explain them.”
“You know what this company means to me.”
I looked at him for several seconds. “And did you know what our marriage meant to me?”
His face changed. For once, he didn’t have a clever response.
I left before he found one.
