“Correct. But more importantly,” I continued, “what you don’t know is what William was planning to do today.”
I pulled out another document.
“3 weeks ago, Williams lawyers drafted a new corporate bylaw, section 7.4. It would have required all shareholders holding more than 10% to either disclose their identity publicly or forfeit their voting rights.”
The room went silent.
“The vote was scheduled for today. After his succession announcement, he planned to strip MS holdings of voting power, then consolidate control with Marcus and Brandon.”
Williams lawyers started to speak. I cut him off.
“It’s a clever strategy. Force the anonymous shareholder to reveal themselves or lose power, except for one problem.”
I slid the document across the table.
“Our original investment agreement from 2008 specifically prohibits any bylaw changes that materially affect shareholder rights without unanimous consent. Robert Foster has been blocking this for 3 weeks. That’s why this emergency meeting was called.”
“You weren’t planning to announce succession, William. You were planning a coup.”
Marcus leaned forward. “That’s not—”
“Shut up, Marcus.”
I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t need to.
I turned back to the board.
“Now, let me tell you who I am and how I got here. My husband, James, died in 2003. He left me $11 million. I invested carefully—technology stocks, real estate. By 2007, I had 150 million. In October 2008, I used 50 million of that to save this company.”
“Every major expansion since then was funded by my capital. The Toronto office in 2012, the Brennan acquisition in 2015, the Chicago Tower in 2019.”
I pulled out my phone and pressed play.
Jessica’s voice filled the room.
“Patricia, I need your advice. It’s about my mother.”
Patricia’s voice. “What about her?”
“She’s becoming a problem. Every time she shows up, I feel like I have to apologize for her.”
“What do you want to say?”
“That she’s not really part of this world.”
“Then perhaps it’s time to create some distance, dear.”
“You’re right. I just feel guilty.”
“Don’t. You’re protecting your family, your real family.”
The recording ended.
“That conversation happened 2 years ago. My daughter has been systematically erasing me from her life because she was ashamed.”
“4 days ago at Thanksgiving dinner, she proposed sending me to a nursing facility in New Jersey with $3,000 a month as charity. She did this while sitting at a table bought with profits from a company I own.”
I stood.
“I own 51% of this company. Morrison Capital currently manages 4.2 billion in assets. My stake is worth over 2 billion.”
I looked at William.
“William Morrison, you tried to strip me of my voting rights so you could hand this company to your son. That ends now.”
“I move that William Morrison be removed as CEO effective immediately. That Marcus Morrison be terminated as vice president. and that Brandon Morrison be demoted to senior associate with probationary status.”
James Chen looked at the other board members. “I second.”
“All in favor.”
Three hands went up immediately. With my 51%, the vote passed.
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