THE BILLIONAIRE'S CRYBABY
Chapter 221: THE VERDICT

Chapter 221: THE VERDICT

Ace didn’t want to budge, but the matriarch was right. It was time this shit show ended once and for all.

He took a deep breath, before moving away from Celine, and finding a seat next to Lynette.

"Keep allowing her to rile you up, and you’d never win against her," she whispered as he sat beside her.

The matriarch went ahead, and stopped when she was successfully facing everyone.

"I didn’t want to intervene, but when the press got involved, I knew I had to do something," she said after clearing her throat.

"What you need to do is sanction your grandson for what he tried to do to the company. If we were going by the law, he would be arrested," Tyler said.

"Shut up, it’s been how many years already? Why are you still stuck in Celine’s bum?" Lynette tackled him.

"You shut up, Lynette. All you do is defend the boy even when he does something wrong. If this is how you train your kids, then I’m sorry, but you’ve created monsters," he replied.

She hissed through her teeth, and folded her first in fury.

"You have some nerve, you know? Some really big nerves!"

"I think that’s enough," the matriarch cut in. "Go ahead, Celine. Tell us what your investigation proved," she said.

"With all pleasure," Celine replied, rising to her feet. "I knew something was wrong with our finances when the reports for the last two months were purposefully withheld, by the orders of Ace Atticus. Naturally, I followed my instincts, and did some digging."

"You sure did," Landon muttered, but his voice came out louder than expected.

"Shut up, Landon. The big boys are talking," Tyler said.

"You don’t say. I’d have mistaken you for a toddler, with how much hand holding you need," he swiftly retorted.

"I said that’s enough! Enough of the bickering. If you all can’t get along for ten minutes, there’s no point in any of this. Ace might as well be reinstated, and we can all go our merry way!" The matriarch raged.

"That’s never going to happen, mother. Because I found out that Ace Atticus gambled Spades total interest on a shady deal with an even shadier company. Everything’s gone. What’s left is the scraps that could perhaps settle our shareholders. All of you seated here. If that happens, Spades would fold. That’s how dire a situation we’re currently sitting on, thanks to Ace Atticus," Celine explained.

It wasn’t lost on Ace how she kept calling his full name.

She was a damn good address. He’d give everything he had in a bet that she had the press listening.

Feeding off everything she said. The lies, truth, agendas, and in-betweens.

He couldn’t fault her though. She had taken advantage of his mistake.

He could only blame himself. After so many years of easily closing deals, good deals, he had gotten carried away, and this was the result.

"Do you have proof of all of these accusations?" The matriarch asked.

"More than enough."

She picked up the screen control, and pressed a button.

The projected screen showed a detailed spreed sheet of the company’s financial details.

Next, she showed the contract with the shady company, and followed it with documents of how much was lost.

With every new slide that appeared, most of the shareholders gasped in shock.

The matriarch was not left out. She also shared in their surprise.

She hadn’t thought the situation was this bad. The press did inform her he messed up real big. She had just thought it was something that could be easily cleaned up.

"As everyone can clearly see, Ace took us for jokes. This is not even all of what he tried to do," she said.

"Wait, there’s more?!" Theresa exclaimed.

"Oh yes, there is. When he saw there was no hail Mary to help, he planned to use your shares to cover the loss."

Ace whose expression had been neutral so far, shifted on hearing Celine’s latest assertion.

What she just said wasn’t completely a lie, but it wasn’t true either.

Sure he had contemplated using the shareholders profit to de-escalate the loss, and turn the tides, but he had not gone through with it.

Even seated at his office just this morning, he came to the conclusion it was best to use his own personal money, although tied to a lot of assets.

He had even planned to call his lawyer, and finance manager to see how they could go about it

"Do you have proof of this, Celine? It’s a damaging accusation to make," Lynette asked.

"Oh I’ll gladly show you proof."

She hit the buttons, and a new slide appeared. It was messages directed to Landon, as they talked about the possibility of using the shareholders profits.

"You hacked my messages?" He asked, unable to remain silent anymore.

"You have no right to play morality police, Ace Atticus. And for the record, I didn’t hack your messages. I came into your office to discuss something important when I saw your computer on, and when I tried to put it off, that was the first thing I saw."

"Bullshit!" He blurted.

"Believe whatever you will, but at least you’re not denying it. You know why? Because it’s the truth," she smiled sinisterly.

"No it’s not. You so badly want it to be the truth, but it’s absolutely not. I had that discussion privately with Landon. But if you had an honest bone in your body, you’d show the parts where we agreed that wasn’t a smart decision to make. Why are you being dishonest?"

"But you do agree you had the thought? Why would you even conceive the idea if you’re not some entitled brat who thinks they can use people to save themselves? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Ace Atticus!" Tyler added to the attack.

Ace jumped to his feet, and walked straight to him. He grabbed him by the neck, in a blink, and squeezed.

"You inciting bastard! I’ve had it up to my neck with your incessant poke nosing. What exactly is your contribution to this company? Banking off the scraps Celine throws your way? The shares you claim you have are nothing in comparison to every other person seated here, yet you have the audacity to question my character?"

"Ace, stop it!" Landon, who had gone after him, pleaded.

Tyler’s eyes rolled to the back as he struggled to breathe.

"Ace, you’re hurting the man. He’s a fool but there are better ways to deal with fools than getting your hands dirty?" Lynette said.

"Look at what he does when he sniffs out something weaker than him? That’s what he tried to do with your shares," Celine instigated.

"Stop it Celine," the matriarch rebuked her, as she moved closer to Ace. "Let him go, Ace. Now!"

His nose flared, and his eyes darkened in rage, but he heard everyone clearly, and they were right.

Reluctantly, he removed his hands from the man’s neck, and walked back to his seat.

Tyler gasped for breath, as he held on to his chest.

Celine still playing a script, hurried beside him with a bottle of water in her hand.

"Are you okay? Take this. Don’t worry, you can sue his sorry ass for putting his hands on you," she suggested.

Lynette sighed in disbelief. It still didn’t make sense to her how Celine was always so obvious about her hatred for Ace, yet everyone just thought she was looking out for the company.

"Are you okay?" She turned to Ace.

"I’m fine."

"But just to be sure," she said.

He didn’t understand what she meant, until he looked down.

A smile almost escaped his face when he saw the bottle.

"Thank you for the water," he said.

"You’re welcome," she replied, and threw him a wink.

He opened the bottle, and took a big swig out of it.

The whiskey burned his throat, but that was exactly what he needed to suppress his anger.

"You okay now?" Landon asked.

"Excellent."

Everyone became settled again, as the matriarch returned to the spot she was standing before.

"I’m sorry for the disruption. I’d ask Ace to plead his case, but we’ve seen more than enough evidence to come to a conclusion. With that said, we’d vote now. Those in favor of Ace being dismissed, lift your hands."

Ace’s eyes went around. Celine had succeeded in buying all except, Lynette and Landon.

He made a mental note, because he was never going to forget this betrayal.

"The majority has the vote. In addition to being stripped off his president title, Ace Atticus will be dismissed from the company until further notice. Do you have anything to say, Ace? Perhaps, you’d like to make a plea?"

He rose to his full height, opened the bottle, and took a sip from it..

Closing it, he returned the bottle back to Lynette.

"This is not the end. You could even call it the beginning. When I come back, Spades will become sole ownership. Enjoy the little bribe you received from Celine while it lasts."

He turned around, and walked braggadociosly out of the door, leaving the shareholders with mixed reactions - ranging from shock, to impressed, and even fear.