Chapter 22 - THE COMPANY VOTE
The Carter Supply board meeting lasted six hours.
Rebecca did not attend as CFO.
She attended with counsel.
I attended as managing partner under review.
The independent auditors presented first.
They did not discuss Sophie.
They did not discuss my marriage.
They discussed money.
Questionable vendor payments.
Unauthorized access.
Credential resets.
False supporting documents.
The forged guarantee.
Cash-flow damage.
Related-party ownership concealed from the company.
MRC.
Rebecca.
Margaret.
Numbers are less emotional than family accusations.
That made them devastating.
The board voted to remove Rebecca from all financial authority immediately.
Her employment status would be determined after the investigation.
The company also rescinded Margaret’s unauthorized system access.
Then came my position.
I expected Rebecca to use the slap.
She did.
Her attorney argued my personal conduct and failure of oversight made me unsuitable to remain managing partner.
The failure-of-oversight argument hurt because it was true.
I had trusted Rebecca too much.
I had ignored Rachel.
I had not reviewed systems closely enough.
So I said that.
“I failed in oversight.”
The board chair looked at me.
“You understand what you’re admitting?”
“Yes.”
“But I did not authorize fraudulent vendors.”
The auditors agreed.
I continued.
“If I remain, I want independent finance controls, no family-only approvals, dual authentication managed externally, and quarterly audits.”
It was the opposite of defending my old authority.
I was asking them to limit it.
The vote surprised me.
I remained managing partner.
Conditionally.
Governance reforms mandatory.
Independent controller appointed.
No unilateral family access.
I walked out without feeling victorious.
Carter Supply had survived the first reckoning.
Whether it survived the debt remained uncertain.
Then Paul gave me one more report.
MRC had not drained all the money Margaret and Rebecca received.
A significant portion remained in accounts subject to the company’s civil recovery action.
We might recover enough to stabilize operations.
Not guaranteed.
Possible.
That was more than I expected.
Rachel was waiting outside.
“Well?”
“I still have a job.”
She smiled slightly.
“Good.”
“I also have three people reviewing every financial move I make.”
“Better.”
I laughed.
For the first time in weeks, it felt natural.
Then Leah called.
The guardianship evidentiary hearing had been moved up.
Margaret’s attorney argued the corporate scandal made the family situation more urgent.
The hearing would begin Monday.
Three days.
The company truth had been exposed.
Now I had to prove the family truth.
And Margaret still had one final strategy.
She intended to call Rebecca as a hostile witness.
May you like
Mother against daughter.
📖 Margaret’s control of the company collapsed, but the final guardianship hearing would force Rebecca to choose between protecting herself and protecting the mother who taught her to lie. 👇
