Chapter 196
Inherited Rage.
“Let’s not pretend neutrality exists anymore.” Melvin warned the co-board members who met with him for dinner on a Thursday evening. “But I’m telling you, Sterling and his family are going down p>
“And you all helped me get this far, so there is no backing out now,” Melvin snapped.
Melvin and his companions were at an exclusive club, inside a private room, discussing their plans.
With him were his wife, Jean; three board members – Graham Whitlock, Jonathan Pierce, and Miriam Rhodes.
Of course, the plan to overthrow Sterling would not work without someone working from the inside. The company’s Director of Finance, Oliver Kent, was present, along with the Director of Clinical Affairs, Dr. Cassandra Vale, and the most tenured Sales Manager, Rahul Khanna. They were the ones helping Melvin stir up trouble for the company. Their only request was promotion and a fat paycheck.
“I’m not backing out,” Cassandra said. “I could never forget how Silas gave my position to Serena. I should have been the Director of Research and Development. Now, I’m only handling the trials p>
“I built half of the early models,” Cassandra claimed. “I wrote the first clinical protocols. And he handed innovation to someone who just walked back in p>
“Serena only got her position because she is Silas’s sister!” Cassandra added. “You deserved R&D. Everyone knows that,” Melvin said to Cassandra, but deep down, he rolled his eyes.
Cassandra may have come up with several innovations, but it was really Serena’s Al Body Scanner that took off like a rocket, leaving Cassandra’s prototypes buried in the smoke.
Melvin would not say that, though. He still needed Cassandra.
“What about me? I’m the most tenured Sales Manager, but Silas promoted Ariana as Sales Director last year?” Rahul complained. “I trained Ariana. I opened half of those hospital contracts. And Silas hands her the director title? What does tenure even mean in that company anymore p>
“You have three children, don’t you? And Silas thinks loyalty doesn’t deserve reward,” Melvin rubbed it in.
Of course, Melvin knew why Rahul was never promoted. Rahul may have been good at closing deals, but he was unreliable when it came to after-sales delivery. It was Ariana who ensured hospitals received proper onboarding, compliance documentation, and post-installation support.
Rahul could secure a signature, but he rarely stayed long enough to protect the relationship.
“I could never forget how they kicked out Charles and Stella,” Miriam revealed. “First, Sterling forces them to liquidate. Then he absorbs the shares himself. That’s not leadership – that’s control p>
To Miriam, it had been humiliating to watch Charles and Stella lose everything over a mistake that wasn’t entirely theirs. She had repeatedly expressed that Serena was still lucky that Stefan was willing to marry her.
Miriam did not know who Nathaniel Thorne was. So she had also thought poorly of Serena. But Melvin would not tell her, or any of them.
Whether their reasons were loyalty, resentment, or envy did not concern him. All Melvin cared about were numbers – and he now had enough. What would happen to the company after that was a problem for another day.
“Yes,” Jonathan acknowledged. “I had wanted to buy those shares for myself, but Sterling refused to sell them p>
“He wants all the profit,” Jean said through gritted teeth. “He is selfish p>
“But how are we going to do this? If we go by the vote, that means we still stand against six board members?” Graham asked.
“It’s five against five, actually p>
Melvin said. Ethan Rowe is already on our side. I did not invite him to
this meeting because he fully believes that the recent problems at the company were Silas and Serena’s fault. He is now doubting Silas’s leadership p>
“So, Ethan switched sides because he no longer trusts Sterling and his family?” Miriam asked.
“Exactly,” Melvin said.
“Okay, so we have equal votes,” Jonathan muttered. “But how can we kick Sterling out of leadership? That just makes us even in the board votes We also have to consider the fact that his entire family is the major shareholder p>
“Let me take care of that,” Melvin said proudly. “I have all that under control p>
After the meeting, Melvin and Jean returned home, confident about their plans.
In the car, they talked about how easy it was and how Sterling never found out.
“I still can’t believe they were not able to connect the dots,” Jean said.
“It’s because Sterling truly treasures our brotherly bond – pffft! Bullshit!” Melvin cursed. “He believes I am still that brother who will follow him around praise the ground he walks on, and support him in everything. Of course, he is blind p>
“I was worried that Nathaniel Thorne was going to catch up to us, but I guess he also missed!” Jean leaned forward. “I heard that he is very focused on investigating Charles and Stella p>
“Yes, I checked on Charles, and he mentioned that there were soldiers who seemed to be following them around,” Melvin shared.
“It’s amazing, really, how we got them off our backs!” Melvin laughed. He could already picture it. He would be the next chairman of VanderMed Technologies, as it should have been.
‘Father, don’t blame me for going against my brother,’ Melvin thought while driving. ‘You were never fair. You should have divided the assets between us. We were both your sons p>
Melvin firmly believed he was fighting for what was rightfully his. But blood, as he would one day learn, was not always what he thought it was.