Chapter 7: The Morning the Board Met
The Solmere Group's boardroom was on the fourteenth floor.
Twelve chairs.
One long table.
Floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the city the way power always looks out over things — from above, and at a distance.
Charlotte arrived at seven forty-five, forty-five minutes before the scheduled board meeting.
She had not slept.
She had spent the night in the legal office with Gerald and his team, and by four in the morning they had found what they needed.
Not everything.
But enough.
The board members filed in at eight thirty.
Eleven men and women who had managed the Solmere Group's interests since her mother's d*ath.
People who had sent flowers to the funeral.
People who had signed cards.
People who had, in the months that followed, quietly allowed Vivienne Holt to assume an authority she had never legally been given.
Charlotte stood at the head of the table.
No one had expected her to be there.
Vivienne arrived last.
She stopped in the doorway when she saw Charlotte.
Her expression lasted only a fraction of a second before she composed herself.
But Charlotte had been watching for it.
"Miss Vale," said the board chairman, a man named Arthur Pemberton.
He was seventy, careful, and had known her mother for thirty years.
"We weren't informed you would be joining us today."
"No," Charlotte said.
"You weren't."
She nodded to Gerald, who was standing near the wall.
He began distributing folders — one to each board member.
"What is this?" Vivienne asked from the doorway.
"Please sit down, Miss Holt," Charlotte said.
"I asked what this is."
"And I asked you to sit down."
Vivienne sat.
Slowly.
Her eyes on Charlotte the entire time.
Arthur Pemberton opened his folder.
He read the first page.
Then he looked up at Charlotte over his reading glasses.
"Where did you get this?"
"From my mother's legal archive," Charlotte said.
"Which, as the sole heir to the Solmere Estate, I have full access to."
The folder contained three things.
The original right-of-first-refusal agreement between Eleanor Vale and Rosalind Holt.
The independent legal review her mother had commissioned — the one the Holts had believed was lost.
And a series of bank transfer records showing payments made from a Holt family account to two of the three partners of the dissolved law firm, made within six weeks of the firm's closure.
"These transfers," Arthur said slowly.
"Are you suggesting—"
"I'm not suggesting anything," Charlotte said.
"The records speak for themselves."
Vivienne's voice came from the far end of the table.
"Those transfers have a legitimate explanation."
"Then I'd like to hear it," Charlotte said.
"They were consulting fees.
My aunt retained those partners after the firm dissolved.
It was entirely standard."
"Consulting fees paid to lawyers who had just buried your opponent's case," Charlotte said.
"Paid within six weeks of the firm closing.
Paid to two of the three partners — not the third, who is the one who moved abroad and who, as of last night, has agreed to provide a sworn statement about why he left."
The room went very quiet.
Vivienne looked at Charlotte.
Something moved behind her eyes — not fear exactly, but the recognition of a person who has just realized the ground has shifted.
"You've been busy," Vivienne said.
"My mother spent two years trying to undo what your family did to her," Charlotte said.
"I've had one night.
Imagine what I'll find in a week."
Arthur Pemberton set his folder down.
"Miss Vale.
What is it you're asking this board to do?"
"Three things," Charlotte said.
"First — formally recognize my ownership of the Solmere Group in full, as documented in my mother's will and the court filing made fourteen days ago.
Second — rescind any authority, formal or informal, that has been extended to Vivienne Holt or any member of the Holt family over Solmere properties or operations." She paused.
"Third — authorize a full legal review of the right-of-first-refusal agreement, with the intent to have it declared unenforceable."
Arthur looked around the table.
Board members were still reading.
Some had turned to the bank transfer records.
"This will take time," he said.
"The first two items can be actioned today," Charlotte said.
"The third can begin this week."
Arthur looked at Vivienne.
"Miss Holt.
Do you have anything to say to this board before we proceed?"
Vivienne was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, "I want to speak with my lawyer."
"Of course," Charlotte said.
"You can do that from outside this room."
Vivienne stood.
She picked up her bag.
She walked toward the door.
At the threshold she stopped and turned back.
"This isn't finished," she said.
Charlotte held her gaze.
"No," she agreed.
"It isn't."
Vivienne left.
The door closed behind her.
Arthur Pemberton looked at Charlotte for a long moment.
May you like
Then he opened his folder again and picked up his pen.
"Let's begin," he said.
