Chapter 8 - THE BOARD VOTE
The board met eleven days after the gala.
No chandeliers.
No champagne.
No audience.
Just twelve directors, outside counsel, Diane Morrow, Malcolm, and Audrey inside Aurelia’s top-floor conference room.
Julian attended with two lawyers.
Camilla did not.
Her counsel provided documents.
The audit was not finished, but the preliminary findings were enough for employment action.
Undisclosed conflicts.
Improper reimbursements.
False vendor submissions.
Unauthorized use of company funds for personal contingency planning.
Repeated override of procurement controls.
Retaliatory reassignment of two employees who questioned vendor expenses.
The last one angered Audrey more than the money.
Two people had tried to stop him.
Julian punished them.
That told her exactly what kind of CEO he would have become.
His attorney argued that aggressive growth often required informal processes.
Malcolm looked over his glasses.
“Fraud is not an informal process.”
Julian finally spoke directly.
“This is a coup.”
Audrey said nothing.
He turned toward her anyway.
“You’ve wanted this since your father died.”
Malcolm interrupted.
“Audrey is not presenting evidence.”
Julian ignored him.
“She hates that I succeeded while she disappeared.”
Audrey felt the old wound try to open.
Then close again.
He could not use it anymore.
The board voted.
Ten for termination.
One abstention.
Julian’s own seat excluded from the employment vote under counsel’s conflict ruling.
Audrey recused herself from the factual findings but voted on the formal officer removal after receiving outside counsel’s recommendation.
Eleven minutes later, Julian Vance was no longer president of Aurelia Systems.
He sat absolutely still.
Then looked at Malcolm.
“You’re choosing her.”
Malcolm shook his head.
“No. We are choosing the company.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“Same thing now.”
Audrey looked at him.
“No,” she said. “That’s the part you never understood.”
Security waited outside.
Not to drag him dramatically away.
To collect company devices and escort him through ordinary procedures.
It was almost mundane.
Julian hated mundanity.
He wanted betrayal.
Drama.
Enemies.
Instead he got policy.
In the elevator lobby, he turned to Audrey one final time.
“You think owning fifty-one percent makes you untouchable?”
“No.”
“What happens when you fail?”
“I answer for it.”
His face hardened.
“You’ll wish you had me.”
Audrey thought about the bruise.
The earrings.
The audit.
The kitchen years earlier when he told her divorce would be distracting.
Then she said:
“I already survived needing you.”
The elevator doors closed between them.
May you like
That was the end of their marriage emotionally.
The legal ending took longer.
