Chapter 4: The Noon Vote

The Heyward Freight boardroom was on the forty-first floor, and I had never walked into it with a husband.

Eleven directors sat around the long table, and every one of them was staring at Joaquin's hand on my back.

It was ten minutes to noon.

My uncle Lionel had the chair at the head, which should have been mine.

Grayson Chastain sat along the wall as Lionel's guest, with his legs crossed and a smirk he did not bother to hide.

"Daphne," Lionel said. "We are here to vote on whether you remain chief executive."

"We are," I said.

"The trust requires a stable family footing for the person holding the controlling shares. Do you have one?"

"I do."

I took the certificate from my folder and slid it down the table.

It stopped in front of him, and the room went still.

Lionel read it.

He read the date, the judge's seal, and the name Joaquin Medrano.

"A courthouse in a hurry," he said at last. "How romantic. How long have you known this man?"

"Long enough," I said.

"A day?"

"Longer than that."

"You met in a restaurant. There are forty witnesses and a video."

Grayson held up his phone, grinning.

"I have it right here," he said. "Do you want me to play it?"

"Play it," Joaquin said.

Grayson blinked.

Joaquin had not raised his voice.

He sat beside me in the borrowed dark jacket with his hands loose on the arms of the chair, and he looked completely at ease.

"Play the whole thing, Mr. Chastain," he said.

"Play the part where she stands up for me, and the part where you film me."

Grayson's smile slipped a little.

"Let's keep this civil," said one of the directors, an older woman near the end.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Stand Aside, the Billionaire Is Here from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.