He and Vivian were the guests of honor at my table. Most of the big advertisers were. My mother reigned over a table of board members while Tobias, Laura, and Paxton occupied seats near the stage.
They watched Russell speak with varying expressions of anger, distaste, and contemplation. He hadn’t deemed Laura or Paxton threatening enough to blackmail, but I wondered what they would say when they found out he’d been spying on them.
“I want to give a special thank you to the board members who believed in me…” Russell droned on, unaware his fifteen minutes in the spotlight were about to expire.
I ignored Vivian’s concern and scanned the room. I appreciated her solicitude, but I had one goal and one goal only tonight.
My anticipation spiked when the ballroom’s service door opened and a half dozen servers entered.
Each one carried a stack of menu-sized packets, which they quietly distributed to guests while Russell spoke.
Their reaction came swiftly.
Confusion rippled through the crowd when they received the papers, followed by shocked murmurs.
Russell faltered at the swell of noise but forged ahead. “…promise to execute my duties as CEO to the best of my abilities…”
The murmurs grew louder. People were getting agitated; silverware clinked, bodies shifted, and coughs and gasps punctuated the gathering tension.
“That bastard.” Dante’s soft laugh traveled over the din. “Didn’t think he had it in him.”
I’d given him an overview about the Russell situation last week, but I hadn’t shared the details printed for all the one hundred-odd guests in attendance.
“What’s going on?” Vivian whispered. “I thought this was a handover ceremony.”
“It is, mia cara.” Dante was still laughing. He placed an arm around his wife and kissed the top of her head. “Just not the kind you were thinking of.”
I sipped my wine and returned my attention to the stage. Satisfaction rattled in my chest at the perspiration coating Russell’s face. It’s about to get so much worse for you.
With Christian’s help, I’d put together a special highlight reel of Russell’s transgressions— payments to private detectives; instructions for said detectives to follow board members and high-ranking executives; emails conspiring with Victor, a competitor, to damage my reputation.
The clamor reached a point where it drowned out Russell’s speech.
He finally stopped, his eyes bouncing around the room. A mix of alarm and anger peeked through the cracks of his affable demeanor. “What is this?” he demanded. “What’s going on?”
I typically didn’t relish other people’s misfortune, but in his case, he deserved it.
I smoothed a hand over my tie. At the agreed on signal, the techs dimmed the lights and turned on the projection screen behind Russell.
The earlier slideshow of my mother’s career highlights flipped to photos of Russell and Victor meeting in person. Of the threatening note to Tobias, blown up and sharpened in high resolution. Of similar notes to key board members, coercing them into various votes. He’d had them split their support among himself, Paxton, and Laura so he won by a tiny margin, thereby reducing suspicion.
The room exploded.
Laura jumped up, expression murderous, hands gesticulating wildly at a stunned-looking Paxton.
On her other side, Tobias’s eyes gleamed, his mouth twisted with grim pleasure. A glass shattered several tables down, and several blackmailed board members tried to sneak away before my mother’s cutting glare froze them in their tracks.
Unlike a majority of the guests, she didn’t react to the revelations onscreen. Her expression mirrored that of someone waiting in line at the grocery store, but when her eyes found mine, they glinted with surprise and a fierce, unyielding pride.
She didn’t have to ask whether I was the one responsible for the mayhem. She already knew.
I stood, and the room fell silent so quickly it was almost comical. Every pair of eyes swung toward me as I walked up to the podium and took the mic from a frozen Russell’s hands.
He hadn’t moved since the projector switched on. The color had slipped from his cheeks, but otherwise, he seemed to have trouble grasping the abrupt turn in events.
“Apologies for interrupting your speech,” I said, deceptively polite. “I realize you’re quite excited about your selection as CEO. However, before we officially conclude your transition, I thought you might like to share your extracurricular activities with the company. It seems fitting, given how prominently they feature in said activities.”
Since the evidence was there for all to see, I kept my rundown short. Spying, conspiring with a competitor, using employee records for personal and unethical purposes. The list went on.
“That’s preposterous.” Nerves pitched Russell’s laugh into a higher octave. “I understand you’re upset about losing the vote, Kai, but to frame me for—”
I tapped the podium. A second later, a video replaced the photos onscreen.
Russell and Victor in Black & Co.’s Virginia satellite office, discussing in detail how and when to publish the articles about me and Isabella. The conversation soon shifted to Victor’s payment—a considerable sum of cash plus Russell’s promise to give him several future news scoops if he was selected as CEO.
Thank you, Christian.
The photos and documents were damning, but the video was the death blow.
Panic pooled in Russell’s eyes. He turned, but he must’ve realized he had nowhere to go, because he didn’t attempt to flee while I closed out the night’s show.
“You’re right. I am upset about losing the vote,” I said. Iron underlaid my voice. “I’m upset about losing it to someone who cheated his way into winning. You were a decent COO, Russell. You could’ve competed fairly instead of lying and manipulating the very people you promised to serve.”
“Fairly?” The word brought a violent tide of crimson to his face. “Fairly? There was nothing fair about the process, and you know it. I worked my ass off for the company for two decades, ten of them as COO. I’m supposed to be the second-in-command, yet the minute you swan in, fresh out of school with your fancy degrees and family name, people defer to you like you’re in charge. Well, I’m sick of it.”
Russell’s hands fisted. “The CEO selection process was a farce. Everyone knew you were going to win simply because you’re a Young. I was included as a pity candidate despite everything I’ve done for the company. While Leonora was busy traveling and you were busy chasing pie-in-the-sky deals, I kept the lights on and the offices running. I deserve recognition, dammit, and I refuse to serve under some arrogant, peacocking upstart who thinks he’s better than everyone!”
His voice escalated with each word until it boomed like thunder through the stunned room. A vein throbbed in his forehead, and flecks of spittle sprayed from his mouth. The stench of rage and indignation poured off him in thick, rolling waves, making my stomach turn.
This was a man who’d been bottling up his feelings for years, if not decades. A man who believed so firmly in his martyrdom that he saw nothing wrong with what he did. In his mind, he was well within his rights to lie, cheat, and blackmail his way to the top because he “deserved” it.