She Left Me in Traction, Then the Will Made Me Her Boss novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: What Marissa Knew

I read the last page standing, with the whole board watching me.

It was a schedule of loans in my grandfather's own signature, four hundred million dollars borrowed over three years in the company's name.

The first payment was due in sixty days.

The lender was a bank I had never heard of.

I had been the company's operations controller for seven years, and none of it had ever crossed my desk.

I put the page down.

"Lyle," I said. "Your keys."

"Excuse me?"

"The company cars, the executive floor, the corporate card. You're acting CEO until I say otherwise. I'm saying otherwise."

"You can't remove me."

"I'm the chairman." I picked up my grandfather's gavel, which was heavier than I expected. "I can do it by lunch. Meeting adjourned."

It came down once on the oak.

Nobody at the table said a word.

Lyle put his keys on the table.

He did it slowly, looking at me the whole time, and there was no heat in it.

That was what frightened me.

I walked out of the boardroom before my leg gave way.

I made it as far as the stairwell, where the concrete was cool, and I leaned my forehead against the wall and said, to nobody, "Ten."

"Toby?"

Marissa stood two flights below me with one hand on the rail.

She had come down by the stairs rather than the elevator, so nobody would see.

"Don't," I said.

"Let me say it. Five minutes."

"You've had two weeks."

"I couldn't say it with him watching." She came up the steps slowly. "He's in the car now. He told the driver to wait. I have five minutes before he comes looking."

I looked at her, and I didn't move.

She stopped four steps down.

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