Chapter 4 - The Proxy
The proxy gave Adrian control of fifty-four percent of Whitmore Capital.
Only for seventy-two hours.
That was all he needed.
A shareholder vote was scheduled for the following morning.
Adrian planned to approve the sale of twelve employee-owned apartment buildings to a luxury development fund represented by Vanessa.
The buildings housed company staff and retired workers at reduced rents.
Vanessa called the properties underperforming assets.
Grace called them homes.
Claire looked at Adrian.
“You planned to invoke this tonight?”
“No.”
“The filing is already prepared.”
“That was legal contingency planning.”
Samuel turned the final page.
The proxy activated after a medical incident witnessed by at least twenty accredited investors.
Nearly every required witness stood inside the ballroom.
The gala was not merely a celebration.
It was a carefully staged corporate event designed to make Adrian’s takeover appear legitimate.
Claire looked at the champagne glass in Grace’s hands.
Adrian followed her gaze.
“You cannot prove that drink was dangerous.”
Grace answered:
“You never asked what was wrong with it.”
Silence.
“You only told me to leave.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“The attendant is building a story because she wants money.”
Grace’s eyes hardened.
“I wanted my father’s pension restored.”
Claire turned.
Grace’s father had worked as a Whitmore building engineer for twenty-seven years.
His retirement account disappeared during Adrian’s restructuring.
He died believing he had failed his family.
Then Grace opened her phone.
May you like
She had recorded Adrian giving Vanessa one instruction before the gala:
Make sure Claire finishes the toast before the proxy is filed.
