Chapter 11 - The Bloodline Clause
|
A stunned silence fell over the twelve board members.
Arthur Vance pushed his reading glasses up his nose, staring at Mia in utter fascination.
“Grant, what are you talking about?” Vance asked, his voice trembling slightly.
Julian stood up abruptly, pointing a shaking finger at Grant.
“Security!” Julian yelled toward the intercom on the wall.
“Remove these people from this floor immediately!”
“Security isn't coming, Julian,” I said calmly, stepping forward with the master security logs.
“All corporate security personnel report directly to the Chief Executive Officer.”
“And until this board votes, that person is still Grant Holloway.”
Grant gestured toward the cart.
I immediately placed a thick black binder in front of every single board member at the table.
“Before you cast a vote on Julian’s emergency motion,” Grant announced, “I invite you to turn to tab three.”
The board members flipped open their binders, the sound of turning pages rustling through the silent room.
Inside were certified copies of the DNA lab results, the signed monthly checks going back eighteen years, and the forensic banking audit we had completed at five in the morning.
“My father had a biological daughter twenty-two years ago,” Grant said, his voice steady and resolute.
“Her mother was Rebecca Carter.”
“For twenty years, Julian Holloway used our family office to cover up her existence.”
“He threatened her, he intimidated her, and he siphoned over forty million dollars from our trust accounts under the fraudulent guise of legal maintenance fees.”
Julian let out a loud, mocking laugh that sounded completely unhinged.
“This is ridiculous!” Julian sneered, looking around at the board members.
“Even if this girl is Charles’s bastard daughter, illegitimate children have zero standing under the original 1995 Holloway Family Trust!”
“I wrote the amendments myself!”
Mia took a step forward, resting her hands flat on the edge of the glass table.
Her dark eyes locked onto Julian with unwavering strength.
“You didn't write the final amendment, Mr. Holloway,” Mia said clearly, her voice cutting through his arrogance.
She turned to Arthur Vance and handed him a sealed, notarized document bearing an official red wax stamp.
“This is the holographic codicil executed by Charles Holloway on November 14th, 2016,” Mia explained.
“Two months before he passed away.”
Vance opened the seal with trembling fingers and read the text aloud to the entire room.
“‘I, Charles Holloway, hereby bequeath an undivided thirty percent voting interest in the parent holding company to any proven biological child born to Rebecca Carter.’”
“‘This bequest shall supersede all previous proxies, including those granted to the managing director of the family office.’”
Vance looked up from the paper, his eyes wide behind his lenses.
“The DNA test in front of you is ninety-nine point ninety-seven percent conclusive,” Grant said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Mia is Charles Holloway’s legal heir.”
“And between my fifty-two percent and her thirty percent, we control eighty-two percent of the voting equity in this corporation.”
Julian’s face drained of every drop of color.
May you like
The leather portfolio slipped from his fingers, hitting the carpeted floor with a dull thud.
He realized, with terrifying clarity, that his thirty-year empire of deceit had just completely evaporated.
