The Boardroom Without a Throne
Chapter 15 - The Boardroom Without a Throne
Grace’s first week as interim chair was less glamorous than reporters expected.
She canceled two unsafe projects, discovered six private jets disguised as “mobile client centers,” and learned that Mercer headquarters spent more on imported bottled water than on whistleblower protection.
“Executives are delicate plants,” Lena explained. “They require minerals from Italy.”
Grace replaced the executive floor’s private dining room with an investigation center.
Auditors traced the ghost-housing funds. Engineers inspected every Mercer-built shelter. Families received temporary relocation and direct compensation from frozen executive accounts.
Some workers cheered.
Others feared that exposing the company would destroy their jobs.
Grace held an open meeting in the fabrication yard.
“I cannot promise there will be no pain,” she said. “I can promise we will stop transferring all pain downward.”
She reduced her own salary, eliminated the Mercer family dividend, and protected hourly payroll for one year. The company’s value fell, then stabilized as public agencies agreed to continue contracts under independent oversight.
Julian watched from detention.
He released private recordings from the mansion showing Grace arguing with Noah, crying alone, and admitting she sometimes doubted her memory. His lawyers claimed the clips proved instability.
Grace authorized publication of the entire recordings rather than edited fragments.
The full videos showed why she cried, what questions she asked, and how often Julian provoked her before cutting the clip.
The smear campaign collapsed.
At the criminal pretrial hearing, Julian finally faced the secret audio from the necklace. His attorney argued that Grace illegally recorded a private conversation.
The judge ruled that a person being coerced inside a locked room had no obligation to protect the coercer’s privacy.
Evelyn’s confession was also admitted.
Then prosecutors produced the photograph of Evelyn at Thomas’s crash.
Julian whispered to his lawyer.
Cole, now cooperating, testified that Julian helped plan the staged accident and struck Thomas before the drive. Julian’s plea offer disappeared.
As officers led him away, he looked at Grace.
“You would have nothing without me.”
Grace considered the statement.
He was partly right. Without Julian, she would not have this particular pain, this public war, or this knowledge of how institutions hid cruelty.
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But he had not created her intelligence, her courage, her family, or her worth.
“I would have had years,” she said. “You took those. Nothing else.”
