Chapter 14
The board meeting lasted almost four hours.
Sylvia attended even though she could not vote.
Trent and Raymond attended with counsel.
Alessio remained recused from the disciplinary decisions.
It irritated him.
He stayed in his chair anyway.
Helen summarized the audit.
The original emergency payments Sylvia approved had violated internal controls but largely corresponded to actual services.
Sylvia accepted responsibility and offered to reimburse costs associated with any unauthorized financing benefit.
She also resigned from the finance committee.
Then came Trent.
The board found sufficient evidence to terminate his employment for cause under the company’s procedures, subject to the rights and disputes his attorney had already preserved.
Raymond’s contract was suspended pending termination and recovery claims.
Relevant findings would be referred to insurers, financial institutions, and appropriate authorities through outside counsel.
No one went to jail in the meeting.
No money magically returned.
No company disappeared.
Real consequences began as paperwork.
Before the final vote, Raymond asked to speak.
He looked at Alessio.
“Your father would never have allowed outsiders to dismantle family business.”
Alessio almost answered.
Then stopped.
This was not his meeting to dominate.
Sylvia spoke instead.
“My father also taught us the family name meant something.”
Raymond nodded.
“Exactly.”
“You keep confusing that with immunity.”
Raymond’s face tightened.
Trent turned toward Sylvia.
“You really want to destroy me?”
She looked at him.
“I wanted you to stop.”
He swallowed.
“You could have come home.”
“You locked me in a bathroom.”
For once, nobody rushed to fill the silence afterward.
Helen called the vote.
The resolutions passed.
Trent closed his eyes.
Raymond stared at the table.
Sylvia removed her wedding ring from her purse.
She did not throw it.
She set it beside Trent’s copy of the termination notice.
Then she stood.
Her attorney gathered the remaining papers.
The referrals were authorized.
May you like
The internal process was finished.
Whatever happened next would no longer be controlled by the Moretti family.
