Page 12 of Vows In Corruption

But just because he is right, doesn’t mean that I’m not going to stop trying to make the nightmares from coming. Or losing hours of the day to the dark memories seeping in.

Hopefully the dream I had tonight is the only one for a while.

“Is there anything else you need from me this morning besides getting Mr. Drake a doctors appointment?” Henry asks, changing the subject.

I give him a nod. “Can you deposit money into Elliot’s account?” because then he will actually answer one of my phone calls or come home “and make sure that Sammie and Grayson have everything they need at school?”

There is a list of other things that need to get done in my head, but those are the most pressing ones that I can remember.

“I’ll get it everything done as soon as I get Mr. Drake off to school.”

“Thank you, Henry.”

“Of course, sir. If there is anything else, just let me know. I will be at the office just in time for the board meeting this afternoon.”

My teeth grind at the mention of the board meeting. This is just your run of the mill board meeting, where we talk about what the quarterly numbers look like and possibly some new thing we should add to the Lane Enterprises line-up. The only reason that I’m attending is because I inherited a seat on my eighteenth birthday. I fucking hate attending them because no matter how many I have attended in the last ten years, they are boring as fuck.

The one board meeting that I will look forward to though is the one where Gerald announces his retirement.

One the day that the acting CEO is going to announce his retirement and officially stepping down from the company, all board members and executives will make their way to our Chicago downtown office for the official announcement. Not only to see Gerald off and wish him well when he actually leaves, but to also hear who Gerald picks to fill his seat either interim or permanently.

And I’m hopeful that the last part is going to be pointed at me.

Not only because I deserve it, but I also did I spend the last two years trying to convince Gerald that it would be a great idea to retire, with planting things in his head like his grandkids would love to spend time with their grandfather and how he should take his wife on a world cruise. Not only that, I also spent that same about of time being the man’s friend, just like Henry said I did.

How else was I going to earn the man’s trust? I needed to do a lot more than treat the man to lunch once a week.

If Gerald wanted to go golfing after his children and grandchildren turned him down on more than one occasion? I took him golfing to the best courses that the country had to offer.

He wanted to take his wife to this new restaurant that opened up down in Boca? I handed over my private jet and paid for their weekend away.

He wanted to talk business and ask me what my opinion was on certain acquisitions? I was his man.

In a short period of time, I not only became the man’s confidant when it came to business but also his friend that he sees almost like a son.

Was it sadistic of me to friend an eighty year old man so that I can take his job? Yes, yes it was and I will be the first to admit that I am in fact an asshole for it, but what Gerald doesn’t now, won’t hurt him.

Besides, there were a lot more genuine moments between us, not everything was a lie, I’m not that fucking cruel.

But if I wanted to make sure that the title of CEO landed on my head and not on some other bastard’s, I had to put in the work to get it done.

I have no doubt in my mind that Gerald won’t name me his replacement. What I do have doubts about is whether or not the board would vote me in.

Because of course this company has the archaic practice of holding a vote for something as big as this. Not only will everyone making a presence at the office for that specific meeting, but they are also would be holding a vote on whether or not they can agree with or veto Gerald’s choice of replacement.

There are twenty members of the board, and in this case only eighteen member would be able to vote and when that vote comes, I need ten to get the seat at the head of the company.

From the top of my head, I know I have six solid votes but that leaves four uncounted four.

Those four can make and break everything.

But what the board doesn’t know, is that I will stop at nothing to be named CEO.

This is my family’s company.

It’s fucking time that all the power goes back to where it belongs.

In the hands of a Lane, where it will stay.

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