Chapter 13: Mrs. Lorne

Nobody in the boardroom looked at Harvey.

They all looked at me.

Cory's father had gone from red to grey.

"Mrs. Lorne," said the lawyer gently, "you don't have to decide anything today."

"I know."

I stood up, and my knees held, which surprised me.

I cleaned teeth for a living. I had never been in charge of a room in my life.

"Mr. Lorne stays as chief executive," I said.

Harvey's head turned. "Tilda."

"Sit still, Mr. Lorne. You're the only man at this table who paid for my mother's heart and didn't send me an invoice."

The director with the white mustache made a noise into his hand that might have been a cough.

"You clean teeth," said Cory's father. "You can't run a freight company."

"Then I'll need good people," I said. "I'll start by removing the ones who drained a sick woman's care money to pay off a debt."

"That is slander."

"Then sue me. I hear I'm rich."

The lawyer lifted one finger.

"Mrs. Lorne, there is a last page of the will. I am instructed to read it only when you ask me to."

"What does it say?"

"I'm not permitted to tell you until you ask."

"Then I'll ask when I need it," I said, and I turned to the man in the navy suit.

Cory had not stopped smiling.

He leaned back and crossed his ankle over his knee.

"Til, this is sweet," he said. "Sit down. You've had your morning."

"Cory Fosdick, sales vice president."

"That's me."

"I'm voting my shares to remove you from every office at Lorne Freight, starting now."

Keep reading free with an account. Start I Married a Stranger to Ruin My Groom from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.