Chapter 4 - THE ULTIMATUM
Arthur Vance pulled the thick black binder across the table and opened it. For ten agonizing minutes, the only sound in the boardroom was the slow, methodical turning of pages.
With every page Arthur read, the color drained further from Jason’s face. Megan began to sob quietly into her hands.
Finally, Arthur closed the binder with a heavy thud.
He looked at his son. "Is this true, Jason? Did you use Nora's inheritance without her knowledge?"
Jason swallowed hard, sweating profusely beneath his expensive collar. "Dad... listen to me. Megan was in over her head with some very dangerous people in Indiana. They threatened to go to the press. If the news hit the papers before the CEO vote, the board would have passed me over and hired an outside candidate! I did it to save the company's reputation!"
"You did it to save yourself!" Arthur yelled, slamming his hand onto the table so hard the water glasses rattled. "You stole from your own wife! You committed fraud under my roof!"
Arthur turned his sharp, terrifying gaze toward Megan. "And you... you gambled away over a million dollars of company money, and then you had the audacity to humiliate the woman who inadvertently paid off your debts?!"
Megan cowered in her chair, unable to offer a single word of defense.
Arthur took a deep breath, resting his hands on the table as he turned back to face me and Marcus.
"Nora," Arthur said, his tone shifting into business negotiation mode. "You have been a good wife to my son, and you were treated disgracefully last night. I will personally apologize for my family's behavior. But Vance Logistics employs five hundred people. A public scandal of this magnitude will destroy our stock value and trigger an SEC investigation that could ruin us all."
"That sounds like a Vance family problem, Mr. Vance," Marcus noted smoothly.
"Name your price, Nora," Arthur said plainly, ignoring my lawyer. "How much do you want to hand over the original files, sign a non-disclosure agreement, and settle this quietly through a private divorce?"
Jason looked at me, a flicker of hope returning to his eyes. He thought money would solve everything, just as it always had for his family.
I sat up straight, placing my hands flat on the table.
"I don't want a buyout, Arthur," I said clearly.
Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Then what do you want?"
"First," I said, "I want my full $1.2 million trust fund restored to my private account by 5:00 PM today, paid directly out of Jason and Megan's personal equity in the company."
"Done," Arthur agreed immediately.
"Second," I continued, "I want a complete, uncontested divorce from Jason, including sole ownership of our matrimonial home and all its contents."
Jason gasped. "Nora, that house has been in my family for—"
"Shut up, Jason!" Arthur barked, glaring at his son before looking back at me. "Agreed. What else?"
"Third," I said, leaning forward, looking Arthur straight in the eyes. "Megan resigns from Vance Logistics effective immediately, surrenders her company shares, and enters a mandatory rehabilitation facility for her gambling addiction."
Megan let out a loud gasp. "Dad! You can't let her do this to me!"
Arthur ignored her. "And what about Jason?"
I looked at my soon-to-be ex-husband. He looked at me with wide, begging eyes, waiting for his sentence.
"Jason stays at Vance Logistics," I said calmly.
Jason let out a massive sigh of relief, a faint smile touching his lips.
"However," I added smoothly, "Jason surrenders his candidacy for CEO. He will be demoted to regional manager of the warehouse facilities in South Rockford, working under an independent interim CEO appointed by the board. And fifty percent of his monthly salary will be garnished until he personally repays Arthur for the equity used to restore my trust fund."
Jason’s jaw dropped in absolute horror. "South Rockford?! That’s a industrial wasteland warehouse three hours away! You're destroying my career!"
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"You destroyed it yourself the second you let your sister tear my dress," I said coldly. "Those are my terms, Arthur. You have until noon to sign the settlement agreement. If it isn't signed by noon, Marcus files the criminal fraud charges with the State Attorney's office."
I stood up, pulled my coat around my shoulders, and walked out of the boardroom without looking back once.
