Chapter 9 - THE PROXIES
Miriam and outside governance counsel reviewed the shareholder situation.
No magical matriarch power.
Beatrice could not simply snap her fingers and remove me.
But she had been working.
Four family shareholders signed voting proxies authorizing Beatrice to vote their shares for a limited period.
Total controlled family voting block:
Twenty-nine percent.
Renata had spoken with two independent directors.
One was open to leadership change if my conduct threatened company reputation.
The other had not committed.
My direct and allied votes were stronger.
But not guaranteed.
Then the planned board meeting.
Scheduled for Monday after the wedding.
Agenda:
Governance review.
Independent investigation of CEO conduct.
Possible separation of chair and CEO roles.
Possible interim chair appointment.
Candidate:
Renata.
There.
They had prepared before the wedding.
Why?
My push for independent governance.
A dispute over selling a legacy hotel.
My refusal to let Beatrice select executive hires.
And:
“domestic instability following Sofia’s death.”
They considered Dahlia part of that instability.
One email from Beatrice:
If Enzo cannot discipline his own child, he cannot discipline a family enterprise.
I read it twice.
Another:
The wedding gives him a clean choice. Accept the rules publicly or show everyone he values one child’s feelings over collective authority.
There.
The humiliation of Dahlia was not merely cruelty that happened to overlap with business politics.
It was intended as a demonstration.
Not necessarily the entire nineteen-day plan from the beginning.
But by the final week, Beatrice and Renata had decided the wedding would test me.
They expected Dahlia to serve.
Expected me to see.
Expected me to tolerate.
My silence would become evidence that Beatrice still governed the family.
My objection would become evidence to directors that I had become unstable.
Either way, they believed they could use the scene.
They did not expect police.
They did not expect me to admit my slap.
They did not expect independent child investigators.
Old family systems are strongest when everyone agrees to keep the room closed.
May you like
I had opened it.
Tomorrow, we would learn how deliberate the test had become.
