Page 59 of With Conditions

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Sophie

Getting out of the SUV, reporters filled the front of the building entrance. Drake, Paul, Tibby, and I walked into the building. My lawyer stated he was arriving early to prepare for the meeting. As we scuttled through the reporters, they yelled out questions, “Will you be resigning today?”, “Are the accusations true? Are you expecting a baby by one of your employees?”

Ignoring them all, one stood out, “Miss Dash, How are you feeling?” Smiling in the reporter’s direction, I gave a simple response. “Fine, thank you for asking.”

Paul pulled my arm, and we ran from the lobby into the elevator. “What a madhouse!” Tibby grunted while straightening her jacket. In that deafening silence, my body quivered at a familiar smell. My mind started racing as my brain acknowledged the scent that made me wild, Cole. Shaking off the feeling quickly, the elevator door opened. They walked towards the board room and my phone started to ring. It was a number already saved in my phone “Maverick”.

Moving into an empty office I picked up the call. “Hello?”

His voice beamed through the phone. “Hi Sophie, It’s Maverick.”

Cutting him off I hastily replied, “yes, I remember.”

He was stunned by my quick response and I could tell that he knew he reached me at an inconvenient time. “Listen, I’m not one to get into anyone’s problems but Lucy heard some guy asking about Cole at the gas station.”

I cut him off again “Yeah probably because he was working to get dirt on me for Miles.”

The line went silent for a moment. “Yeah, so I’ve known Cole and I don’t think that’s the case but I do however know who the guy was.” Annoyed to the extreme, I didn’t cut him off again and listened as he continued, “as you know someone tried to kill you and since I’m friends with the local police chief, he told me they have video of the man that wired the bomb on the boat. Come to find out they busted him over the weekend and he admitted to getting paid $200,000 from Miles to make you disappear.”

My eyes widened. “You have proof of this?”

He chuckled a little “They have the phone conversation and everything. Turns out this guy didn’t think Miles was good for the money so he recorded everything. They are putting in his arrest warrant now.”

Shocked by this news I thanked Maverick for the information and hung up the phone. That was the phone call that was going to save my business. Walking out of the office I straitened my suit and pushed open the conference room doors. All the board members were present including the criminal himself. It became silent as I took my seat, sitting across from me were all so familiar eyes, Miles. My glare couldn’t be withheld, and he returned it with a wink. What a complete asshole! Little did he know today was about to be his last in regards to freedom.

“Let’s get started,” one of the members who had been on the board for years stated.

Miles stood and started reading from his paper. “Thank you for meeting on such short notice. I have filed a motion to remove Sophie Dash as CEO over Boss Babe Incorporated for her unprofessional behavior bringing a sex scandal to our corporation and violating the fraternization policy by having affairs with an hourly employee of my company. I’m disgusted by this behavior, and our stock has dropped by over 20%, impacting the company’s business. With this information, I would like human resources to conduct a full investigation and during the process I should be reassigned as intermediate CEO over the corporation.”

My face turned hot as anger filled me. Miles took a seat, and I stood to start my speech but not before being interrupted by the door opening. In walked Cole. He looked the most professional I had ever seen. Wearing a tailored suit, hair freshly cut and groomed to the nines. My eyes widened with his sudden intrusion.

“Sir, this is a private board meeting for stakeholders only.” Lawrence who was on the board for less than a year and represented 12% voting power, interjected Cole.

“Great, then I am in the right place,” Cole replied to the room flatly while throwing an envelope on the table. “As of this morning, I hold 5% voting power in the company.” He stepped toward the table. “My name is Colton Shaw, janitor of Forever Fitness LLC and officially I have 5% voting power on this board.”

Shocked at his claim, my lawyer opened the letter, and after a few moments, he nodded, approving his official notice.

Cole’s voice was filled with confidence, the same confidence which I loved about him. “I purchased my rights to this company and would like to speak to the terms of this case.”

Miles stood trying to cut him off. “This is a conflict of interest, Colton Shaw and Miss Dash are the claimants in question. This gentleman was the member who took her to the sex club which is currently tainting our reputation.”

Cole held up his hand in a moment of power, and the room froze. I was stunned at how well he held himself, almost as if he fit into the setting. “Well, that may be the case, Mr. Miles. Do I need to give you a short lesson on voting power with Sophie owning 46%, and I holding 5%? But I think that will defeat the purpose of this meeting.”

Miles, now realizing the fact crossed his arms but didn’t respond.

“As I was saying, this morning, I purchased voting power and a large number of shares in this company. Let’s be honest. That is not why we are here today. We are here to address personal matters that may or may not blur the lines of the professional space.” He looked in my direction as he moved down the conference room. “No investigation is needed. Miss Dash and I are in a relationship.” Still in shock of the recent events, my heart started pumping faster.

He patted the back of Mr. Yang, who was an investor in our company and owned one of the largest financial companies in the world. “Mr. Yang can attest to my professional background and speaking on all legal and financial terms of business. You see, years ago, I graduated from Yale and worked my way up in his company. A tragic event took place in my life, and I decided that I needed to shift my focus. The one thing that stood in my path was the human right to privacy and corporate policy that stopped people from being human. Removing all my awards and position, I opened a camp to help children who came from homes that dealt them with a bad hand in life. This transition humbled me to see that it’s okay to be human and still follow your dreams. All of you here supported Miss Dash in her dream as she started with a small fitness company to building an empire of seven strong corporations, all following her vision. Today, Miles wants to take that situation and ask you to vote against a woman who made all of you not only rich but continues to be a sure bet moving forward.” I sat still and my knees started to shake. Drake moved in my direction to check on me, and I waved in his direction to let him know I was okay.

Cole smiled towards me and looked back at the members of the board. “We say that we want to empower women, but the moment that woman decides to be a mother or explore sexual freedoms, as men, we come in and try to belittle that. The entire model of Boss Babe Incorporated is built on women’s empowerment. As a new stakeholder, I can tell you that it’s a bad decision to make a mockery of the greatest gift women give, and that’s the gift of life and sexual freedoms.” My entire body started to soften, and I looked around the room at the men and women of the board who were eating out of Cole’s hand.

“Does she need your permission to have a child? Or who she chooses to be in a relationship with? Or enter into a private club agreement? I’m sure if we looked into a few of your pasts and ran some simple DNA tests, some of the headlines would read much different this morning.” He paused, looking toward the ground and shoving his hands in his pockets. “I’m an hourly employee, but it doesn’t mean that I’m any less than all of you sitting in this room.” The board stilled as he turned to look in my direction.

“Sophie, you’re an incredible woman. What you have built in this company speaks volumes. I’m honored to have met you professionally and personally. As you are aware, I’m not perfect, but one thing I know is I’m willing to bet all I have on your leadership in this company, so I vote to forgo any investigation and keep you as the CEO of Boss Babe Incorporated.”

Looking deep into his eyes, an emotional feeling hit me. This was the first time anyone was on my side. Someone was fighting for me. Miles stood up, but Mr. Yang interrupted him before he could speak. “I second that vote and ask that we do some PR damage control to assist with our stock losses.”

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