He Signed His Divorce Without Reading It, Now He Kneels novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Empty Chair

The boardroom of VanBuren Holdings was on the forty-first floor, and I had never been inside it.

Alasdair had walked me as far as the lobby. He stood by the turnstile with two coffees going cold and said, "I'll be right here."

I kept my hand on his sleeve a second longer than I needed to.

Then I rode up with my lawyer, who held a leather folder against her chest and said nothing the whole way.

It was ten past nine. Iris had told me the vote was set for nine-fifteen.

The receptionist stood up when she saw us. My lawyer set a single sheet of paper on her desk.

"Certified copy of the decree," she said. "My client is a shareholder of record as of this week, and she's attending."

"I'll have to call someone."

"Call them walking," my lawyer said.

We went through the double doors without waiting.

A table of dark wood ran the length of the room, with the board gathered around it.

Lorna sat at the head in her funeral black. Colin sat at her left, and a man I didn't know sat on her right, with a thick bound proposal in front of him and an expensive tie.

Every seat had a leather folder and a nameplate except one.

It was the chair at Lorna's right hand. Its nameplate read Franklin VanBuren.

Nobody had sat in it since March.

Conversation stopped. Eight directors turned their heads toward the door.

"This is a closed meeting of the board," Lorna said.

"Good morning, Lorna," I said. "I'm told it's a vote."

"You are not a director."

"No. I'm what the directors answer to." I looked down the table. "Directors, I'm Genevieve Wrenfield."

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