“None of your so-called evidence would stand up in court.” Preston loosened his tie and shifted in his seat. “A phone is a private device, and you certainly didn’t have my permission to hack mine.”
Anne gasped. “You aren’t denying what they found on it? Just questioning their right to go looking for it?”
“And you’re wrong anyway,” Rachel said. “Everyone signed a disclosure agreement years ago that allows the company to search personal devices at their discretion. As long as they were in the building at the time and were used for work. We all know you make work calls on your phone; we’ve watched you. Which means TayFor was well within their rights to crack open your phone and peer inside.”
“TayFor,” Charles snapped. “Not Benson Security. Not him.” He pointed at Harvard. “He has no right being here. None.” He sneered at Rachel. “No one can stop you from making a foolish decision about whom you marry, but we can definitely stop management from putting him in a position of trust. I mean, what do we know about this man? How do we know he can be trusted? For all we know, he might be planting clues to dismantle the board and install himself. He’s probably after Rachel’s money and the company. Bloody gold digger.”
“Charles!” Francesca shot to her feet. “I will not tolerate you speaking to Rachel like that.”
“Of course you wouldn’t.” Charles gave her a look of disgust. “You made the same mistake with your choice of husbands. My father and his brothers started this company. It should have remained with them. It should still be called Talbot Pharmaceuticals, not TayFor. Roger Ford didn’t start this business, he just wormed his way into it, exactly the same way this boy is doing.”
Boy? Hell no. Harvard lost all sense of amusement. “You call me a boy one more time, and I’ll escort you from the building. Through that window. This isn’t some plantation, and you sure as hell aren’t my white overlord. I’m sick of your racist shit, so do me a favor and keep talking, because I would seriously love to make you stop.”
Charles’ normally ruddy face paled as he shrank in on himself. His bluster disappeared as he obviously read correctly that Harvard wasn’t joking.
“Everybody, calm down,” Jonathan ordered. “The police will be here soon, and they’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“This what? This preposterous lie against Preston?” Theo snapped. “You’ve made a mistake. Go over it all again because my son wouldn’t do something like this. Tell them, Preston. Tell them they’re wrong.” He appealed to Rachel, “Why on earth would my son steal from the company? This makes no sense.”
Preston barked out a mirthless laugh that had all eyes focusing on him. “Do shut up, Father. You’re making everything worse just by being here. Can’t you tell when you aren’t wanted? None of us…” He waved a hand to indicate his mother, stepmother, and brother. “None of us wants you. You’re an embarrassment to us all and have been for years.”
Theo’s jaw dropped before he gathered himself. “You don’t know what you’re saying. It’s shock from being so heinously accused. Don’t worry, son, I’ll look out for you.”
“You’ll look out for me?” Preston laughed hard.
It was cold and filled with bitter anger. Harvard had heard that laughter before and knew it only manifested in people who were broken. His eyes scanned the room, and he unobtrusively signaled to his team not to interrupt, but to stay quiet and watch.
“You’ll look out for me?” Preston soared to his feet and leaned over the table toward his father. “The way you looked out for us when you walked out on our mother? The way you’ve walked out on every family you’ve had since then, so you could follow your dick all over London? Please, you can’t even look out for yourself, let alone anyone else.” He slammed his palms on the table, making several people jump.
Stephanie put her arm around Anne, who watched in horror as her son raged at his father.
“You’re the reason this happened,” Preston spat out. “You keep diluting the share base. Every child you have means more people on this board. Less profit for everyone involved. More stupid voices to listen to as they expound their inane opinions about a company that’s nothing more than a meal ticket to them.”
He slapped the table again. “You’ve diluted our heritage. Because of you splitting your shares with every divorce, our family’s position on this board was weakened.” He swung to Jonathan. “That seat is mine. I’m the eldest. I’m the one with the most experience. I should have been CEO. But no, you get to sit in the seat because your father managed to get his hands on the majority share of the company. A company that wasn’t even his. It was ours, damn it.”
He glared at his father. “So, yes, because you frittered away my heritage with your stupidity and inability to keep your dick in your pants, I took it back.” He stood up straight and tugged down his suit jacket, fixing Jonathan with a suddenly calm and intelligent look. “You can’t steal what you already own. As a shareholder in this company, the research belongs to me as well as everyone sitting at this table. It doesn’t matter how much evidence you think you have. Because you cannot steal what you already own.”
Anne sobbed quietly as the shock of Preston’s confession sank in. Theo just sat there, pale and unmoving, as though disconnected from everything that was happening.
“You did it then?” Marcus asked his brother, sounding pained. “You stole from TayFor?”
Preston ignored his brother while he tugged at the cuffs of his shirt and fixed his tie. “I would like to call my lawyer now,” he calmly told Harvard.
“The police are waiting in reception,” Harvard said. “Ryan will escort you to them and accompany you to the station. You can meet with your lawyer there.”
Preston nodded and strode toward the door, hesitating briefly when he opened it. “Think about who the real villain is here. Me for taking what I rightfully own? Or the Ford family for taking our heritage from the rest of us.”
As the door closed behind them, silence fell over the room; all that could be heard was Anne’s quiet sobbing. Until Charles cleared his throat. “He has a point. I mean, I don’t agree with the stealing. He wasn’t just taking what was his; he was taking from all of us. But he has a point about this company having been infiltrated by outsiders.”
“Charles,” Jonathan said evenly, “you’re fired. Clear out your desk and hand in your security pass. I’ve already spent far too many years listening to your bigoted bullshit. I don’t want to waste any more of my life on it.”
“You can’t fire me,” he shouted. “I’m a shareholder.”
“Actually,” Rachel said, “being a shareholder doesn’t automatically guarantee you a position with the company. Employment is at the discretion of the management. I should know; I helped Father draft the regulations.”
“You always were an interfering little hussy,” Charles told her as he got up and stormed toward the door. “I’ll see you and your inbred family in court.”
“Oh, to hell with it,” Harvard said as the man approached him. He pulled back his fist and let rip.