85. The Board (Part 1)

85. The Board (Part 1)

While she did admit it sounded like she thought all of them were manipulative old men, of the 7 on the board, there were only two of them she actually liked.

Of the members of the board, there was one person related to Aurora, her Grandmother, and she was the only direct member of the family still alive other than her estranged uncle. Before last week it had been a long while since she had seen any relatives, and within a normal family, it might have been something to be happy about.

However, her family was particularly complicated with the main Branford line becoming distant from the rest following her grandfathers and then her parent's untimely passing.

Aurora’s stray thoughts returned to Sasha who looked a little taken aback by her hardline stance, but the secretary expertly schooled her expression as she spoke, her professional demeanour returning.

“As you say, Miss Branford. Are you prepared? Do you need me to get anything?”

Aurora let out a sigh filled with the annoyance that had been building within her as she leaned back into her chair.

“Sorry Sasha, I didn't mean to get sassy with you. I’m just fed up of having to deal with all this bullshit again- And don’t ask, I said I would explain it all later. It’s just that everything today is winding me up more than usual.”CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m

Sasha’s expression slightly changed a few times with quirking lips and occasional twitches of her eyebrows as she went through different thoughts. The secretary seemed to decide on how she felt and then spoke with a slight smile.

“Well, I should warn you the board will push harder than they did in the last meeting Chester had with them as you likely guessed, so expect to need some painkillers for a headache when you leave.”

Aurora let out a laugh as she smiled back at Sasha who was giving her a small amused smile.

“Yes, I imagine I would. Anyway, it's about time now so let's head over.”

“Ah, hello there dear, I am your grandmother. I have sadly not had the chance to meet you before now due to some... disagreements, but I hope you will follow and learn from this old lady's wisdom.”

Her grandmother who was the exception, making no effort to hide some sort of superiority complex aimed at her. The woman spoke with a patronising tone as she introduced herself as her grandmother instead of her actual name, despite it being expected of the older woman in a business setting.

Aurora was also fully aware of what those disagreements were and why her parents wanted to sever contact between an easily influenced child and a manipulative woman, but she kept those thoughts to herself as she moved to return the greeting.

“Ah, Hello there Miriam. Yes, it is nice to finally meet you.”

Aurora tried to ignore the annoyance her grandmother's attitude caused as she gave a short and curt reply while remaining civil. She was not going to make any trouble herself, but she felt that she didn't need to given the scowl on the woman's face. She sighed inwardly as she moved the meeting straight into the main topic, noticing that some of the younger members of the board shared her distaste for her grandmother's interaction.

“With introductions now made, let us move to the main topic of the meeting, the future direction of the Branford Group.”

Aurora started by throwing her copy of the document given to the others in the room last week onto the table as she spoke.

“You all got a copy of this document regarding Mr Branford’s plans for the next few quarters last week, yes?”

The board's collective expressions became distinctly mixed, some looked aghast at her attitude, some held a small smirk seeing at her no-nonsense attitude, while a couple looked hopeful, no doubt holding expectations she would call the document trash and scrap the plans.

After Aurora received nods from all of the members she continued to speak.

“Well, this stands. Every part of it. We will be continuing the projects Chester initiated and seeing them to completion. The same agreement as last time stands as well, if you have issues, you can bring them up in the mid-first quarter meeting.”

As Aurora expected there was chaos amongst the members of the board, however, most of the outrage came from 5people in particular. They were the older members of the group, and that distinctly included her grandmother who had become the most vocal, clearly very upset by this turn of events.