Page 80 of The Acquisition

"Not quite yet. There's still the matter of Easton Corporation. Apparently, Maxwell caught wind of the moves we were making to put the company under conservatorship. He called an emergency board meeting," she glanced at the watch on her wrist, "which should be starting right about now. If you hurry, I think you can make a dramatic entrance."

Stryker grabbed my hand. "Looks like we have another stop to make."

He tugged me down to the elevator. "I parked my car here the other day since I'd had a few drinks with Caroline after we wrapped up our initial meeting about your company."

With his keys in hand, he unlocked a yellow Lotus. He let go of my hand and opened the passenger door. "Get in."

I paused without getting in. "This isn't a car. This is an orgasm with wheels."

He smirked at me. "Well, it's one way to come—I mean go where you want."

I rolled my eyes and sank down into the car. "That was quite possibly the worst pun I've ever heard."

Pulling a pair of mirrored aviators on his face, he looked over at me. "Got you in the car though, didn't it?"

A few minutes later Stryker pulled over in front of the Easton Corporation building. "You can't park there," a security guard rushed over as we got out of the car.

Stryker gestured to me with his thumb. "Do you know who this is?"

The guard nodded several times. "Of course. Welcome back, Miss Easton, but you still can't park here."

"If you know who she is, then I suggest you make sure no one touches my car. This entire company is about to become hers," Stryker warned.

"I—" the guard called to our backs.

"He'll do as he's told," Stryker said and steered me toward the elevators.

Minutes later we pushed open the doors of the board room. My father lost a lot of support after the failed launch of Easton Vodka. Turned out the board member's concern over their personal bottom line outweighed prior loyalty.

I didn't trust a single member of the board. They were all opportunistic old men who would sell out their families for high profits. However, for our purposes, their self-interest was a tool I could use.

They only cared about making money. As long as they were convinced Maxwell was incapable of doing that for them, they'd help push him out. Unfortunately, there were a few of his cronies who stood fast to his side. Their support wasn't enough to keep him in power, but they might sway others to stand by him.

Stryker crossed the room like he owned the building, which legally in a sense he did. "I know you were all alerted that Maxwell Easton has been removed as CEO of this company. If you are all meeting here to try and circumvent that decision, I have it in my right to disband the board and open up a vote to all shareholders as to your fate."

Maxwell rose from the seat at the head of the table. "How dare you come in here with this upstart and try and take my company." His face was turning purple, a sure sign his anger was approaching explosive levels.

"Your company? We both know I've found Grandfather's will. None of this is yours," I shot back.

The corner of his lip curled in a sneer. "What a disappointment you are. All this is your fault. If only you could have supported your cousin as I asked, none of this would have happened."

"If you hadn't viewed me as incapable simply because I am a woman, we wouldn't be where we are. Your own misogyny caused this problem."

He moved into my personal space and looked down his nose at me. "I thought maybe you'd finally served your purpose marrying Colter Greyson. You could have helped our corporation gain ground in business, maybe even made alliances in their board of directors. But if you're here that means he's grown sick of you already."

"That's enough," Stryker bellowed. He placed his palms on the table and leaned forward. "I was going to come in and take over the company in place of Jana."

He focused his midnight eyes squarely on my father. "You would have been allowed to save face, maybe declare a retirement, walk off into the sunset and survive off a pension you didn't deserve. Now that I see what kind of a vile excuse for a father you are, I'm going to enjoy dismantling your world piece by piece."

He turned to the rest of the board and tossed some documents he'd retrieved from his briefcase onto the center of the table. "As for the rest of you. You'll find letters of resignation. I highly suggest you sign them and take advantage of my good mood. The simple fact that you showed up to this meeting means you're on the wrong side. Hell, Maxwell being able to push his daughter around unchecked by this body means your useful days have passed. If you don't sign, I'll enjoy taking you down with Max."

"Not all of us came here to support Maxwell," one of the men chimed in.

Stryker dipped his head down to cover a smirk and pulled yet another stack of documents out. "Then I highly suggest you take and sign this statement of support of my interim control of the company as an agent for Jana Easton."

A couple of the men, those pushing eighty, signed the retirement papers and walked away quickly. Most of the others, save my father's three closest allies, took the statement of support, and after a lengthy perusal, signed the documents and left. Since my father no longer had any voting rights in the company, Stryker was able to quickly order security to have my father and his friends escorted from the building.

Once we had the room to ourselves I started laughing. "You are a cunning bastard. You knew when faced with retirement or war they'd choose a third option the moment you presented it. But how did you know they'd see you as a threat?"

---