“Anthony,” she said, voice stripped of warmth. “I need an emergency Board meeting tomorrow. 8 AM. Mandatory.”
He hesitated. “Tomorrow? Margaret… what’s happened?”
“Nathan hit Emily,” she said flatly. “And informed her she wasn’t ‘classy’ enough for a CEO’s wife.”
Silence. Then Anthony’s tone turned icy. “Understood. I’ll prepare everything.”
By sunrise, the storm had cleared, leaving New York glittering under cold sunlight.
Nathan stepped out of his luxury car, adjusting his silk tie in the tower’s mirrored doors. He felt untouchable. New title. New power. No more “ordinary” wife weighing him down.
He imagined Emily crying somewhere and smirked. “A king needs a queen, not a nobody.”
The moment he entered the lobby, his assistant rushed over. “Sir… the Board is waiting. Emergency session.”
He assumed they were preparing to honor him.
He swaggered to the executive floor, pushed open the boardroom doors—
And froze.
The Board sat silent. No smiles. No congratulations.
At the head of the table sat an elderly woman in a grey cardigan.
Margaret.
James stood beside her, arms crossed, looking at Nathan like something stuck to his shoe.