Caelus Online

86. The Board (Part 2)

Of the board, only the younger woman, Vanessa Daniels, and one of the forty-year-old men, Capris Morgan, seemed somewhat unphased by her declaration. She was unsure if it was partly due to the generational divide or some other strange reason, but of the whole board, it was just these two who remained the most cordial towards her.

Granted, they could obviously see the major issues that her planned direction for the Branford group would lead them to in the current market, and if she were honest, anybody with a basic economic understanding and knowledge of which markets were the most profitable could figure it out. 

But for whatever reason they seemed to be far more accepting of her decisions, both as Chester and as Aurora respectively. In the meeting In the previous week, she distinctly remembered their reasonable response to her proposed plans, letting her go through with them for a period provided that should the group lose money after 1 year from her changes, then she would personally compensate for the losses.

That however had been a far more reasonable response than the rest of the board however. They were just as stubborn and set in their ways and pushed for more, which included her resignation as CEO on top of any compensation.

She could freely admit her plans would cause short-term losses for the conglomerate as they entered into new markets and invested their capital into various investments, but in the long term, the Branford Group would eventually break even. 

However, the board’s additional pushes did considerably annoy her since it was a clear attempt to push her further from the company and to attempt to assert their own control over it. She could understand their reasoning to an extent, since they were shareholders they received dividends based on how well the group performed, so they would want the company to generate as much profit as it could to fill their pockets. 

But in their attempts, they were falling into the trap of so many other corporate entities who just pursued profit at the expense of alienating their customer base because they kept making unpopular decisions. In this case, their pursuit of profit by attempting to control her decisions would result in a massive loss of potential profits and expansion. 

And while the older members of the board thought they could influence her decisions by threatening her with the removal from the CEO role, in reality, it did not matter at all since she had almost complete control over the company, and those sitting on the board were only there thanks to their ancestor's investment into the Branford group when it first started out. 

They had been given seats on the board as advisers and to be kept informed over the progress of the company in exchange for their investments, but they knew fully well that they held no clear power in the company. 

They did have some power to be able to remove certain people from different senior positions, including the person who sat in the role of CEO, however, thanks to the company bylaws Aurora had the executive power to circumvent any of the board's decisions. And that was her nuclear option. 

Should the board cause too many issues or try to remove her from her position, as the owner of the Branford Group she had the power to remove people from the Board of Directors and replace them. So whatever decisions they tried to force onto the company, she could threaten them with removal from the board to be replaced by someone who would support her decisions without question and just reinstate her as CEO. 

Aurora was almost certain that they all knew the extent of the little power they held in their current position, but despite that, the way they were now acting before her at this moment would have given any onlookers a different impression. It was apparent they were making an attempt to mislead her in her apparent ‘ignorance’ and ‘naivete’, and the mere attempt was seriously making her angry. 

She could admit that to anyone outside of her immediate friends and confidants, she would appear to have lived a sheltered life, never being seen as a young girl due to her condition, brought up ignorant of the world, and potentially headstrong given her family’s wealth and thinking she could do whatever she liked. 

But despite how the last part was actually quite correct, the previous points had given the more uppity and elderly members of the board the impression that she could be manipulated to their whims.

After letting them talk amongst each other for a few moments, the split became vividly clear as the 2 younger members of the board who didn’t have any distinct issues with her plans other than the obvious spoke to each other to one side while the other’s outrage and apparent disapproval of her intensified as they discussed amongst themselves.

As Aurora listened to the various points made, most of which surrounded the topic of how two people so young would support such a ridiculous business plan with their inexperience. She could feel her annoyance and anger slowly rising to the point she had quite enough of their pointless rambling and nonsense, so loudly clapped her hands together to regain the focus of the room.

“Alright, that's quite enough. I am very well aware of your reservations towards these plans, but we shall not be repeating past discussions in this meeting. I am simply informing you all of what is happening, as is my prerogative. If you have other concerns or questions, then let us use this time to discuss those issues instead.”

Her grandmother who seemed to have established herself as the head of the group trying to oppose her stood up at her words, her expression angry.

“Repeating past discussions? We have every right to bring up the incompetent stupidity of these so-called plans and projects, especially when a young, inexperienced girl such as yourself is taking charge. There are far more capable, experienced and talented individuals who can, and will take over your position as CEO of the Branford group.”

Aurora felt a slight surge of excitement in her heart alongside her growing anger as she heard her grandmother’s words, feeling the familiar rush she would get when she was about to enter into a battle of wits with the selfish and decrepit old hag. 

Her mother had spoken of how her grandmother had always been self-serving when she was the Lady of the Branford house while her grandfather was still alive. And given everything she had seen from the woman ever since, it had only become worse. Her attitude seemed to have become more bitter and resentful while she tried to control everything around her.

Aurora could see how the woman currently sitting further down the table sneering at her with disdain and disapproval became who she was today. By taking away everything that gave a superficial and materialistic person their supposed superiority, they would become bitter and try to take back whatever they could at every opportunity while getting at those who they perceived had wronged them. 

And Aurora fit that description in her grandmother's eyes. Not only had she assumed the role of Lady of the house of Branford, but she had taken on the role of her father and grandfather before him, wielding everything the house had at its disposal. And that was not to mention her beauty she felt her grandmother loathed more than anything else. 

After looking directly between the woman's eyes for a deliberately uncomfortable amount of time Aurora finally spoke up, her tone level yet intense as she continued to stare the woman down. 

“Oh? Is that so? I am quite impressed that you know my capabilities better than myself. But please do enlighten me, who in your expert opinion do you think is more qualified to take on the role?”

Aurora knew that there was a very high possibility that anyone her grandmother suggested would undoubtedly be within her sphere of influence or tied to that side of the family. And sadly her grandmother's required qualifications to become one of her supporters went no further than to become one of her sycophants. But surely she wouldn’t suggest anyone too absurd, especially in front of the whole board?

“Your uncle Worthred Branford would be the perfect replacement.”

Aurora could not contain the slightly manic cackle that left her lips, her bout of extreme amusement apparently catching everyone in the room off guard who all looked at her like she was crazy. Her grandmother was no exception, but before she had a moment to speak Aurora immediately interrupted her.

“Worthred, are you actually serious? In the past 6 years he has driven 3 businesses into the ground- that I am currently aware of, developed a massive drinking problem, and if what I hear is correct, has been embezzling money from the startup loans you had provided him. You are telling me, with a straight face, that you want to put such a man at the helm of a multi-billion pound conglomerate?”