Chapter 6 - The Emergency Board Meeting
By Wednesday, the Morrison family was in a state of absolute siege. Brendan had tried to file for an emergency injunction to block his termination, but three different judges had thrown the case out the moment Sovereign Group’s legal team presented the evidence of his corporate credit card fraud.
However, Diane Morrison wasn't finished fighting. She had spent the last forty-eight hours calling every old-money contact she possessed in New England, trying to organize a shareholder revolt among the minor institutional investors who held a combined twelve percent of Sovereign Group’s public stock.
At 2:00 PM, an emergency board meeting was called by a rogue faction of shareholders loyal to the Morrison name.
I entered the grand boardroom, my daughter kicking gently against my ribs as if she were cheering me on. Diane sat at the far end of the table, flanked by two high-priced defense attorneys she had likely hired using the last of her hidden jewelry reserves.
"Cassidy," Diane said, trying to regain her regal, icy composure. "You may own the majority share of this company, but you cannot run a multi-billion-dollar empire based on personal spite. The market is already volatile. If you push my family out completely, we will liquidate our remaining institutional shares and trigger a massive sell-off that will tank the stock price."
"Liquidate them, Diane," I said, sitting down at the head of the table and opening my laptop. "Please. Do it right now."
Diane’s attorney frowned. "Madam Chairwoman, if the Morrison block sells their twelve percent, it will create a temporary liquidity crisis for Sovereign Group. You won't be able to fund your upcoming Q4 automated logistics expansion."
"We won't have a liquidity crisis," I said, tapping a single key on my keyboard. "Because at 1:45 PM today, Sovereign Group executed a private buyback option for all outstanding minor institutional shares at an above-market rate of forty-two dollars a share. The funding for this buyback didn't come from corporate reserves."
"Then where did it come from?" Diane demanded, a sudden look of dread appearing in her eyes.
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"It came from my personal trust fund," I said, leaning back and looking her directly in the eye. "The Hayes Private Equity Fund. I now own eighty-nine percent of Sovereign Group independently. The remaining eleven percent is held by Vanguard and BlackRock, both of whom have already signed a proxy agreement giving me full voting control over their seats."
I leaned forward, my expression hardening into a mask of pure steel. "You have no leverage, Diane. You have no stock. You have no board seats. You are currently sitting in a private corporate briefing room without a security clearance. Marcus, arrest her attorneys for unauthorized entry, and have Diane escorted to the loading dock. She likes dirty places, so she should feel right at home."
