I Froze the Shares Before He Could Give Them Away Chapter 11

I Froze the Shares Before He Could Give Them Away Chapter 11

A board meeting was in progress.

After being suspended from his duties, Richard was attending for the first time as a subject of the

investigation.

He was wearing a wrinkled suit, with dark circles under his eyes. He used to be clean, calm, and

condescending; now he sat at the far end of the table, and no one even refilled his water glass.

When I entered, everyone stood up.

Richard instinctively stood up too.

I didn’t look at him and sat directly in the Chairman’s seat.

The audit team read the findings.

Richard Vance was removed from all management positions in the group due to concealing major

related-party transactions, misappropriating trust assets, and instructing finance to delete

records, with the relevant liabilities referred to the legal system.

Arthur Brooks, having proactively submitted evidence, still had to bear responsibility for financial

fraud but could receive leniency according to the law.

All funds in the shell companies under Chloe Davis and Leo Vance were frozen, and recovery of the outflow had begun.

Beatrice Vance’s seat was voided, and her associated voting proxy was invalidated.

Every line was like a nail.

Pounded into the Vance family nameplate that had hung for decades.

When Richard heard the end, he suddenly laughed.

“Eleanor, are you satisfied?”

No one in the room spoke.

I looked at him.

“Not yet.”

His laugh vanished.

I placed the divorce papers on the table.

“Sign.”

In that moment, his expression was strange.

As if he finally remembered that besides being shareholders, trust beneficiaries, and creditors, we were still husband and wife.

“Does it have to be like this?”

I didn’t answer.

Richard stared at the agreement.

“I admit, I was wrong. I was tricked by Chloe, and I was pushed too hard by my mother. Eleanor, I just wanted a home.”

I looked at him and suddenly remembered our wedding day seven years ago.

He put the ring on me and said he would protect me for the rest of his life.

Back then, Vance Enterprises had just climbed out of a debt crisis, and he was exhausted and sharp.

I thought I had married someone who just didn’t understand tenderness yet, and if I stayed long enough, he would eventually learn to look back at me.

But every time he looked back later, it was to see if I was still in place and if it was convenient to sacrifice me.

“Richard,” I said, “what you wanted wasn’t a home.”

He looked up.

“You wanted someone who wouldn’t fight back to guard your money, your reputation, and your mother’s dignity. Chloe gave you a child, so you wanted the child. I gave you shares, so you wanted the shares. You never loved anyone; you only loved the Vance family seat.”

His face grew paler.

“What about you?” he asked hoarsely. “Did you ever love me?”

I smiled.

“I did.”

A flash of light appeared in his eyes for an instant.

I said, “Which is why we have to settle the accounts.”

The light in his eyes died.

I pushed the pen over.

“Sign.”

This time, it was his turn to pick up the pen.

His hand was shaking violently.

When the nib hit the paper, I thought of how I had been held down to sign the Deed of Gift in my

life.

It turns out that once the positions are swapped, the paper also cuts.

Richard finished signing and threw the pen on the table.

“Eleanor, you’ll regret this.”

I picked up the papers.

“I’ve already regretted it once.”

On the day I left the board meeting, Richard caught up to me in the parking garage.

The same place where Arthur had stopped me.

He stood in the rain, the shoulders of his suit soaked.

“Eleanor!”

I stopped.

He ran over, almost desperately grabbing the car door.

last

“Don’t take it this far. The name change, the clawback, the lawsuits-we can talk about anything. Don’t let Vance Enterprises change its name.”

I looked at him.

What he feared most was finally not losing Chloe, not losing the child, and not even losing his

marriage.

It was Vance Enterprises changing its name.

The Vances took my mother’s money to stay alive, yet they feared the Sterling name reappearing

more than anything.

“Richard,” I said, “do you know what my mother’s maiden name was?”

He froze.

Husband and wife for seven years.

He didn’t know.

I closed the car door.

“You’ll know soon.”