87. The Board (Part 3)

87. The Board (Part 3)

It was clear that many of the other board members were unaware of his reputation, given their indignant and displeased expressions directed at her grandmother. Aurora didn't want to bring their private family drama into the company like this, but her grandmother had left her no choice having suggested her uncle.

The man had become increasingly problematic as he grew older, and she assumed that many of the issues originated from his childhood being the second child, aware that he would not be inheriting any of the main family properties or business. It was not like he was given nothing from their grandfather, he had been given more than enough money to live his life however he wanted. But thanks to his temperament he had managed to squander much of it from poorly thought-through investments, partying and gambling.

At this point in the past, Aurora had her suspicions about some of her uncle's dealings, but nothing was confirmed till her grandmother had asked her to invest in his next big venture. This prompted her to take a deeper look into his background beyond what she had heard from the rumours that had been spread around the family. It was how she had first learnt of his antics, and that he was certainly not worthy to take any position of power.

“Proposing such a person brings into question the competency of your future proposals and recommendations, as well as your loyalty to the company and its future. I will give you the fact that without the public disclosure for the reasonings behind Chesters proposals, I too may look to be sabotaging the company, but I have at least agreed to reimburse the Branford group of any losses from my own pocket. Would Worthred Branford do the same? Would he even have the money to do so?”

Aurora’s grandmother looked at her with sharp eyes as she started to respond, her tone now far colder and more pointed than before.

“Listen here girl, As the new head of the Branford family, you should support the remaining family members with-”

Aurora cut her grandmother's tirade off before she could let any more condescension drip into her words.

“ENOUGH. This is a board meeting for the Branford Group, not a parlour where we are to discuss private matters, nor is this a place to practice nepotism to bring incompetent persons into the company's management. But seeing as though you wish to bring the topic of supporting the family up, I will respond by asking the simple question: ‘What have you done to support the family- that is outside of your most recent attempt to compromise the conglomerate by suggesting the appointment of an unqualified and ill-suited CEO.”UppTodated from nô/v/e/lb(i)n.c(o)/m

Aurora stared her grandmother down, and as the woman was about to open her mouth, undoubtedly with further insulting and patronising spiel, she interrupted her.

Vanessa appeared to be the most regretful as she gave Aurora a shy and awkward smile when their eyes locked. She couldn't help but feel guilty that she had made the older woman feel bad because of her fictitious background, but with the dangerous future looming ahead, she had to use whatever was at her disposal to make things easier. And until she had properly established herself under her new identity of Aurora, her fictitious background was a major asset to use despite the guilt that silently gnawed at her conscience.

Despite the slight shift in the majority of the board's opinions of her, it was nowhere near enough to be able to quell the plethora of complaints and disagreements that were bound to come her way, so she decided to wrap this honestly pointless but required meeting up.

She could waste an hour of her time trying to convince everyone here to follow her plans, but it would be time that she could have spent to better effect elsewhere. And should any of the board members try to cause trouble later on, it will be when her time is less valuable and she can afford to deal with minor inconveniences.

“Now as much as I wish to get to know you all properly and debate the many issues that you all no doubt wish to bring up, I as of now do not have time due to recent tragic events. As it is, my schedule is completely packed, so it will be at least 3 weeks until I will have any free openings in my schedule. If anything of urgent importance does come up, please relay it to the current Executive Manager, Gareth Brewer, who will either be able to deal with it directly himself, or pass it on to myself to deal with.”

As Aurora looked around the room she could see the mix of expressions of the board members. Her grandmother and the elderly man who sat next to her appeared to be the most disgruntled of the Board and from a simple glance she could tell that they were bound to cause her trouble in the future

The two youngest on the board, Vanessa Daniels and Cappris Morgan, appeared more sympathetic towards her and willing to provide her support, while the remaining three stayed displeased but showed hints of commiseration with her.

With one final glance around the room, Aurora gave a nod in mild satisfaction that the Board of Directors had been informed of the continued direction of the Branford Group, as was required of her. With one glance to Harold who looked deep in thought, Aurora clasped her hands behind her back as she spoke with a stern expression.

“Now, I must apologise for the short duration of this meeting, but in order to meet the designated targets set by Chester, I have a lot of work to do and not enough time. I wish you all a good day and I hope that our next meeting will be filled with less conflict.”

Aurora gave a brief nod in parting as she walked out of the meeting room, soon followed by Harold. She had to admit, despite her grandmother's particularly nasty attitude, she was overjoyed at how little time she spent in the meeting, and quite enjoyed the chance to be a little more domineering than usual.

In business, it was incredibly rare to be able to deal with issues like the board meeting just now in such a way, but thanks to the unique situation where she was given absolute authority by the company bylaws and the fact she was just reconfirming decisions made in the last few weeks, it was possible.