Chapter 14 - WHAT SERENA OWNED
Serena read the document twice.
“I’ve never seen this.”
Rachel checked the notarized date.
“It was signed when you were nineteen.”
Julian understood before either woman said it.
Serena’s father had purchased an early stake in Cross & Ember through a trust in her name.
Graham and Evelyn had been fighting for control of shares Serena did not know she owned.
The humiliating dinner had served two purposes.
Destroy Julian’s reputation.
And make Serena look unstable enough for Graham to challenge her control of the trust.
Serena sat down hard.
“He made me destroy myself on camera.”
“You helped him,” Rachel said.
Julian looked at his sister.
“That’s enough.”
“No, it isn’t,” Serena said quietly. “She’s right.”
The next morning, Cross & Ember’s emergency board meeting began at nine.
Graham’s allies expected Julian to be removed.
Instead, Detective Ortiz entered with warrants.
Two directors were arrested before coffee was served.
Adrian agreed to cooperate.
Pike turned over the names of every employee he had bribed.
Rachel presented the original ledger.
Then Serena stood before the board.
“I control thirty percent of this company,” she said. “And I vote to remove every director connected to Vale Capital.”
The motion passed.
Cross & Ember survived the loan attack after the bank admitted its default notice had been fraudulently triggered.
The stolen $42 million was frozen before it left the offshore account.
Outside the boardroom, reporters surrounded Serena.
“Are you and Julian Cross still together?” one shouted.
Serena looked through the glass doors at Julian.
“No.”
The answer surprised him, even though it should not have.
She continued.
“I treated a man like garbage because I believed money measured his worth. Learning that he was rich did not make my behavior wrong. It proved I would have continued if he had been poor.”
For once, she did not ask to be forgiven.
That evening, Julian returned to Ember House.
Noah was resetting tables.
On table nine sat a sealed envelope addressed to Julian.
Inside was Serena’s transfer of all voting control over her shares.
May you like
And one final handwritten line.
DON’T LET THIS PLACE BECOME WHAT I WAS.
