Chapter 90: I Have Proof

Four days later, as William made his way to the Stones and Brothers headquarters, he was worried.

“I followed what you said and gave her space. But apart from texting me that things were fine, she never made the move to talk to me or meet me,” he grumbled.

Luca looked at his boss and then shook his head. “She is in the middle of a battle and you expect her to focus on romance?” he questioned. “Give her the time to win. Once she does, she will feel a rush of adrenaline and be open to falling in love again.”

The advice was well-intended but William only glared in response.

“She never told me to contact Marcus Mendez, either. I tried to book an appointment with him but he declined. Does that make sense to you?” he said with a note of irritation. In his mind, Sarah had definitely been unable to convince Marcus. Up until last night, she had said the same.

“We have a plan B. Isn’t that why you are sitting in on the board meeting?” Luca questioned.

William hummed in response. No matter what, he couldn’t allow this chance to go. If not this time, Vera would find a way to wriggle out of the situation and there would be no way to oust her.

William was led to the meeting room as soon as he arrived. When he entered, he saw that most of the shareholders were already seated. They watched the much younger man enter and eyed him warily.

They knew him and they greeted him politely, but they knew something was about to go down. One of Sarah’s uncles had called an emergency shareholder meeting, stating that the eligibility of shares would be reinstated. This was not normal procedure. This had put everyone on edge. And seeing a brand new face made their anxiety much worse. They could only imagine the magnitude of what was about to happen.

Sarah’s uncle was also present in the room. He looked at Micheal with mild curiosity before understanding filled his eyes. He knew instantly that the DNA reports he had received were from this man. And he was there to oversee what action would be taken in response to his actions.

The room buzzed with conversation. Some spoke about business while others discussed the future of the company. William remained silent, hiding how anxious he really was. Sarah was not in attendance and neither was Vera.

The door creaked open and a woman impeccably dressed entered. Vera raised her brow as she took the seat at the front of the table. She turned to Wendy, who had long transformed from a little girl studying in college to a more mature woman who knew how to handle situations.

“Did you know William Colton was going to attend the meeting?” Vera asked her daughter.

Wendy glanced in William’s direction and a flash of something passed her eyes. She shook her head. “I wasn’t informed that he was behind the recent stock movement. But none of the other shareholders have changed. They simply sold a little bit of their holdings.”

“Pay attention to these movements in the future. And learn quickly,” Vera said with a smile on her face. “I also want to see what trouble he stirs up.”

Wendy took the seat beside her mother and flipped through the papers. Her uncle looked at her strangely and she could only smile. “Uncle, is something wrong?”

The older man shook his head. “No. No need to call me Uncle in the company setting,” he said gruffly before turning to his secretary.

Wendy was stunned. “Mom, what do you think that was about?”

Vera looked at her brother-in-law suspiciously before sensing something was amiss. She pulled out her phone to contact Mendez. She raised a brow when the lawyer didn’t pick up the call.

“Be prepared and call backup,” Vera said to her daughter. Wendy was already on her phone, trying to call anyone who would have some information. She had barely stepped out of the meeting room to take one call when she saw a familiar figure walk up.

The sense of familiarity was replaced with confusion when she noticed the luxury clothing on Sarah’s body. She looked so much different from the broke girl who Wendy had liked to bully and failed.

“What are you doing here?” Wendy hissed. “What? Did you rekindle your romance with William and this time become his personal assistant? It’s not becoming to follow a man around all the time,” she said.

Wendy was still unaware that her ‘father’ had a daughter before her.

“You should go inside. The meeting is about to start and you will need all the support you can get,” Sarah said before brushing past Wendy. She entered the meeting room and was mostly ignored. She found a seat empty beside William and walked over to it.

“You’re late,” William commented and pulled the seat back so that she could seat.

She hummed and sat down immediately. “I got caught up in some last-minute things.”

William raised a brow. “So, we are going with plan B?” he whispered. He noticed Vera looking their way strangely and gave the woman a curt nod. “Vera is already sweating, we need to put on a united front so that this works.”

“Let’s stick to Plan A.”

William’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he smiled brilliantly.

The host of the meeting started speaking. “Welcome to all the shareholders. Today’s motion is to re-evaluate the shares that have been distributed to the deceased family members of the late Chairman Phillip Stone and the legitimacy of their claims to those shares.”

The room grew silent.

“Are they talking about us?” Wendy asked, her eyes wide with shock.

“It seems so. I also want to see what those two have up their sleeves,” Vera commented lightly. She didn’t believe that the two of them could come up with anything substantial.

She raised her voice and objected. “I feel like this is about me and our daughter. Might I ask why the legitimacy of our claims has been disputed?” she challenged, looking right at her brother-in-law.

The man laughed. “You pretend not to know? Why keep calling her your and Phillip’s daughter when you know full well that she is not?” he retorted.

Gasps of shock filled the room.

“Did he just say Wendy Stone is not Phillip Stone’s daughter?”

“How is that possible?”

“What nonsense are you spouting!” Vera hissed. “Just to strengthen your position you are tainting my reputation and disregarding your own niece?” She shook her head, looking like she was disappointed. “We have known each other for so long, I didn’t expect you to be so ruthless.”

“Vera, I am not ruthless. If you hadn’t fooled my brother and passed off someone else’s child as his, I would have allowed you to live off our family’s money for the rest of your and your daughter’s life. But you dared to fool us and even conspired to kill anyone who had the proof…”

“What proof? Where is it? Show it to me!” Vera challenged.

Sarah smirked before speaking up, “The proof? I have the proof with me.”