Chapter 6 - THE BOARD MEETING FROM A HOSPITAL BED
At seven the next morning, I joined Vance Meridian’s emergency board meeting by secure video.
I wore a hospital gown.
Fetal monitors remained strapped across my abdomen.
Helen sat beside me.
Julian appeared from a conference room with three attorneys and Peter’s empty chair behind him.
He opened with concern.
“Elena experienced a severe medical and emotional event yesterday. I request postponement of any decision until she has been properly evaluated.”
The board chair, Martin Bennett, looked toward me.
“Mrs. Thorne, are you able to participate?”
“Yes.”
Julian’s attorney objected.
“Pregnancy-related distress can impair judgment.”
Dr. Ortiz entered the video frame after I requested her presence.
“I am Elena’s obstetrician. She is medically stable, oriented, and capable of communicating. I am not offering a legal capacity opinion. I am stating there is no medical basis for assuming incapacity.”
Julian presented Dr. Crane’s declaration.
Helen presented the fact that he had never examined me.
One director asked Julian why the declaration described a pool incident three weeks before it occurred.
He blamed clerical drafting.
Then the board reviewed the proposed Thorne Leisure sale.
The valuation was nearly $190 million below an appraisal completed six months earlier.
Julian said the properties had deteriorated.
The chief financial officer disagreed.
She had not been given the final sale agreement.
Tiffany’s company would receive a $14 million advisory fee.
Julian’s private fund would gain control.
The proxy was necessary because my consent rights blocked related-party sales.
I addressed the board.
“I vote against recognizing any spousal proxy, against the proposed transaction, and for immediate independent preservation of all corporate and trust records.”
Julian looked directly into the camera.
“Elena, you do not understand what happens if the lenders withdraw.”
“Then show the lenders the real documents.”
“You are acting from humiliation.”
“I am acting from the contract.”
Martin called the vote.
The board suspended the sale.
It placed Julian on administrative leave pending investigation.
His access to company systems ended before he left the room.
He remained a shareholder and director until further procedures. The board could not erase his legal rights through anger.
When the meeting ended, my hands began shaking.
Winning a vote did not make my body less pregnant or my marriage less false.
Dr. Ortiz adjusted the monitor.
My daughter’s heartbeat remained steady.
Tiffany appeared at the doorway without Julian.
She looked as though she had not slept.
“Emma keeps asking whether the woman who saved her is going to die.”
“I’m not dying.”
“That’s what I told her.”
“Why are you here?”
She placed her phone on the bedside table.
“I found messages Julian sent Peter.”
One message read:
If Emma is recognized publicly before proxy activation, Elena can argue conflict. Keep Tiffany calm and the girl out of direct sight.
Julian had invited Emma to the club.
Then planned to keep his own daughter hidden at the event where he intended to take control.
May you like
Tiffany’s anger toward me shifted again.
“He was going to erase her too.”
