Chapter 7 - The Vote of No Confidence
The atmosphere in the boardroom turned ice-cold.
The twelve board members looked between Julian’s panicked face and Emmett’s unyielding posture. The weight of the union presence standing at the back of the room was impossible to ignore.
"This is ridiculous!" Julian shouted, standing up so fast his chair rolled back against the window. "You can't call a vote without thirty days' written notice!"
"Under Section 4 of the Ror Enterprises Charter," Emmett replied smoothly, pulling a small silver flash drive from his pocket and dropping it onto the table, "an emergency vote of no confidence can be called instantly if evidence of gross criminal misconduct is presented by a shareholder holding more than fifteen percent of voting stock."
Julian eyed the flash drive as if it were a venomous snake. "What is that?"
"That," Josie said, her voice ringing with quiet authority, "is the complete data log from Ror Cold-Line Container 09. The container your men locked Odessa inside last night."
She looked directly at the board members.
"Inside that log," Josie continued, "are GPS records proving that the container was altered using unauthorized company funds. It contains voice recordings from the internal comms system of your security team detailing orders to force me to sign away my child's rights under distress."
One of the elderly board members, a long-time associate of Emmett’s late father, picked up the flash drive and plugged it into the podium laptop.
The large projection screen at the front of the room flickered to life. Audio files began playing automatically.
The tall man’s voice rang through the room's high-end speakers: 'Mr. Ror wants the Larkin woman signed off before midnight. If the older waitress gets in the way, lock her in the freezer. Nobody checks the Calumet yard until Monday.'
Gasps of horror echoed around the mahogany table. Two board members immediately turned their chairs away from Julian.
"Julian," the elderly board member said, his voice trembling with disappointment. "Tell me this isn't true."
Julian opened his mouth, but no words came out. His smooth, arrogant facade was completely shattered. Sweat glistened on his forehead.
"I move for an immediate vote of no confidence," Josie said firmly, lifting her head high. "And I vote my twenty percent against Julian Ror."
"I second the motion," Emmett added, looking around the table. "Who stands with the future of this company?"
Slowly, one by one, hands began to rise around the table.
First the elderly board member raised his hand. Then two hedge fund representatives raised theirs. Within thirty seconds, nine out of twelve board members had their hands held high in the air.
"The motion carries," Emmett announced quietly. "Julian Ror is officially removed as Chief Executive Officer of Ror Enterprises, effective immediately."
Julian stumbled back against the glass window, his chest heaving. "You can't do this to me... I am a Ror! This company is mine!"
"This company belongs to the people who build it, Julian," Emmett said, turning his back on his brother. "Not the people who hide behind locked doors."
At that moment, the heavy double doors at the back of the room opened once more. Four federal agents in dark suits walked in, accompanied by two uniformed Chicago police officers.
"Julian Ror?" the lead federal agent called out, pulling a folded warrant from his jacket. "You are under arrest for federal wire fraud, human endangerment, and conspiracy in connection with the death of David Larkin."
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Julian looked around the room frantically, but there was no escape. His attorneys stepped away from him, shutting their briefcases. The board members looked down at their papers.
As the handcuffs clicked around Julian's wrists, he was led out of the high-rise office, past the silent line of dockworkers who watched him fall without a single word.
