Chapter 161
Marcus’s POV
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Marcus walked into the Thorne Dynamics boardroom at exactly two PM looking like he’d been through hell, which he supposed he had. He hadn’t slept in over thirty hours, hadn’t eaten since yesterday, and had spent the last six hours watching his newborn children fight for their lives in the NICU.
But he was here. And he was ready.
The boardroom went silent when he entered. Every seat at the massive mahogany table was filled with board members, major shareholders, and a handful of investors who’d been brought in specifically for today’s vote. At the head of the table sat Penelope, looking immaculate in a navy suit with her blonde hair pulled back in a severe bun.
She smiled when she saw him. “Marcus. We weren’t sure you’d make it. I heard you had a family emergency.”
“My wife delivered our twins this morning. Emergency C-section at twenty-eight weeks. One of them is on a ventilator.”
There were murmurs of sympathy around the table but Marcus could see the calculation happening behind everyone’s eyes. A CEO who couldn’t even keep his personal life stable. A man whose priorities were clearly scattered.
Exactly what Penelope wanted them to think.
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Penelope said with perfectly calibrated concern. “Perhaps we should reschedule this meeting so you can be with your family.”
“No. We’re doing this now.”
Marcus took his seat at the opposite end of the table from Penelope and looked around at the assembled group. Some of these people he’d worked with for years. Others were newer additions to the board, brought in during his father’s final years when Penelope had been whispering in his ear about diversifying leadership.
James Morrison, the lead investor, cleared his throat. “Mr. Thorne, before you arrived Mrs. Thorne was presenting some concerning information about your recent conduct and the financial health of the company.”
“Was she now?” Marcus kept his voice flat and emotionless.
Penelope stood up and walked to the presentation screen where several documents were already displayed. “I take no pleasure in bringing these matters to light, but as a major shareholder and member of this board, I have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure Thorne Dynamics is being run with integrity.”
She clicked to the next slide and Marcus saw photos of himself and Aurora at the hotel. The images had been cropped and edited to look as damning as possible.
“These photos surfaced two days ago showing Marcus with his ex-girlfriend at a luxury hotel. While I understand that personal matters are typically kept separate from business, when those personal matters involve the CEO publicly cheating on his pregnant wife, it becomes a question of judgment and character.”
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“Those photos are fake.” Marcus said calmly. “Aurora drugged me on Penelope’s orders and staged the entire thing. She’s already given a full confession to my lawyers.”
Penelope didn’t even blink. “That’s a serious accusation. Do you have proof?”
“I do. Video testimony, signed statements, everything documented and notarized. We’ll get to that.”
“I see. Well, even if we set aside the personal scandals, there are more pressing concerns about the company’s financial stability.” Penelope clicked to another slide showing spreadsheets and reports that Marcus recognized immediately as the doctored documents Gerald had created. “These are the quarterly earnings reports that were supposed to be presented at last week’s investor meeting. As you can see, there are significant discrepancies between what Marcus reported to this board and what the actual numbers show.”
Morrison leaned forward to study the screen. “Those numbers don’t match what we were told. Marcus, can you explain why revenue is showing thirty million dollars less than you reported?”
“Because those reports have been tampered with. Someone in our financial department was paid by Penelope to alter the data and make it look like I was either incompetent or committing fraud.”
“Again with the accusations,” Penelope said with a sad shake of her head. “Marcus, I understand you’re under tremendous stress right now. Your wife just had emergency surgery, your newborns are in critical condition. Perhaps your judgment is impaired.”
“My judgment is fine. What’s impaired is your ability to keep lying without getting caught.”
One of the other board members, a woman named Victoria Rodriguez who’d always been sympathetic to Penelope, spoke up. “Mrs. Thorne, you mentioned there was evidence about the nature of Marcus’s marriage. Something about it being a contractual arrangement rather than a genuine relationship?”
Marcus felt his stomach clench but kept his expression neutral. Here it comes.
Penelope’s smile widened just slightly. “I’m afraid so. And this is perhaps the most troubling aspect of all of this because it goes to the heart of Marcus’s eligibility to run this company under the terms of his grandfather’s will.”
She clicked to the next slide and Marcus saw a copy of the contract. The one he’d signed with Elara that had started this entire mess. The one that was supposed to have been destroyed but apparently Penelope had gotten her hands on somehow.
“This is a marriage contract between Marcus and Elara Vance, signed the day before their wedding. It stipulates that in exchange for marrying Marcus and maintaining the appearance of a real relationship, Elara would receive financial compensation. The contract was designed to fulfill the marriage requirement in the grandfather’s will so Marcus could claim his inheritance.”
The room erupted in shocked murmurs. Marcus watched as board members looked at each other, at him, at Penelope with varying expressions of surprise and disgust.
“Furthermore,” Penelope continued over the noise, “I have documentation showing that Elara was already pregnant when they signed this contract. Medical records prove she was approximately six weeks along at the time of the wedding, which means the pregnancy occurred before the marriage. Marcus used this young woman’s desperation to coerce her into a fake marriage that would benefit him financially.”
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“That’s not what happened,” Marcus said.
“Then what did happen? Because I also have this.” Penelope held up a piece of paper that Marcus recognized with sinking dread. The cash receipt. The one he’d written when he’d given Elara the money for her mother’s treatment. “Fifty thousand dollars paid to Elara Vance the same day the contract was signed. Payment for services rendered, one might say.”
Morrison looked at Marcus with something close to disgust. “Is this true? Did you enter into a contractual marriage to satisfy your grandfather’s will requirements?”
Marcus met his eyes steadily. “Yes.”
The admission caused another wave of reaction around the table. Some people looked vindicated, others disappointed, a few openly angry.
“So you lied to this board,” Morrison continued. “You lied to your shareholders. You presented yourself as a married man in a stable relationship when in fact you’d bought yourself a wife to game the inheritance system.”
“I didn’t buy her. And what started as a contract became real. Elara and I fell in love. We built a genuine marriage.”
“How convenient,” Penelope said. “You fell in love just in time to make the arrangement look legitimate.”
Victoria Rodriguez stood up. “I move that we vote immediately on Marcus’s removal as CEO. This level of deception and poor judgment makes him unfit to lead this company.”
“Seconded,” said another board member.
Morrison looked around the table. “All in favor of moving to an immediate vote on Marcus Thorne’s removal as CEO, please raise your hand.”
Marcus watched as hands went up around the table. Six, seven, eight. More than enough to force the vote.
“Before you vote,” Marcus said, standing up slowly, “there’s something you need to know about Penelope Thorne.”
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Chapter 162
