Chapter 22: Presenting

Abigail woke up before her alarm this morning. A stroke of luck, really. And she began getting ready for the day.

She was nervous. Even she had to admit that to herself. She was going to meet the Board of Directors. She would have to convince the people with the most power and experience in this company, that her decision and research was in the best interest of the company.

She dressed in her best work attire, and had the same nine ladies critique her outfit. This, not the ball, was where she truly needed to be well-dressed. This was where these people would judge her.

Abigail was sure she could have come in the worst dress imaginable, and they would have forgotten it, but if she came to work dressed in the slightest way incorrectly, she would be ripped apart.

After her outfit was carefully and tastefully selected, the women helped her with her hair and make-up as well, needing to be perfect. Barely any make up was put on, but it made such a difference to her overall look.

Her shoes and bag were chosen last, and finally, with the assurances of the women that this would get easier, Abigail was ready to go.

She met her father for breakfast, who gave her a brief once over, nodded, and went back to his paper.

Abigail felt this was the highest praise she could receive.

The breakfast was relatively quiet, with Olivia and Charlotte both absent. Abigail didn’t question their absence, she simply enjoyed it.

Her father was true to his word and drove her with him to the office. Or had her driven with him to the office.

As soon as they reached the office, her father whisked her off straight to board meeting, telling her he hoped she was prepared; the entire Board of Directors were waiting for them in the conference room.

Abigail felt she was, and followed her father into the conference room with her head held high.

She caught sight of the husband and wife that had greeted her at the ball. Her father had given her the names of the people she needed to focus on, those who were most opposed to this decision. Their names had been among them.

Abigail knew them to be understanding people, and she felt sure she could convince them of her proposal. So, she placed her file down on the table, smiled at them. And she began.

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The presentation actually went much better than even Abigail had hoped it could go. Some of the board members, those against the initial acquisition, had asked her questions about the proposal, and she’d answered them fluently.

Some had questioned her on the viability of the other options, specifically the mergers. But Abigail had researched every opportunity and every angle, not just her preferred method. And so she’d been able to list the pros of a merger, but she’d also been able to list all the negatives. Not the least of which had been the amount of people that would then lose their jobs and that it would have to come from both sides, or they risked an evisceration from the press and bad press meant stocks falling.

At the end of the meeting, each and every one of them had agreed that the merger was not an option that was going to work. And since no one had wanted to walk away from this deal, they had all agreed to signing.

Adam had brought the papers with him, and everyone signed the new deal into effect that morning. There had even been a place for Abigail to sign, as an independent consultant.

Her father had gifted her a fountain parker pen, engraved with her name on it, just as the document was placed before her, and she nearly teared up right in the conference room in front of the entire board of directors, as she signed her name on the company decision.

After that, the rest of the day went quite swimmingly.

Except for that one minute where someone bumped into her, scattering his own pages everywhere. Abigail helped him pick up everything quickly, assuring him there was no need for apologies and that it happened to everyone.

She barely glanced at him as she handed the papers back, and continued her tour of the company, trying to commit to memory where everything was, while simultaneously trying to go over another project one of the board members had asked her opinion on.

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Charlotte knew there would be an opportunity for her here at the company today. Which was why, this morning, she had made sure she was up and ready at the crack of dawn.

She had even sacrificed her beauty sleep for this.

She hadn’t gone to breakfast, though. Oh, no. She hadn’t wanted little miss b*stard to see what was happening and pull out for some reason. No, she wanted to show Adam exactly the type of useless and gold-digging person she was.

It was such a shame the paternity test she’d done on Abigail had come back positive. If she’d managed to get a negative result, that would have been the end of this ridiculous and unnecessary story.

She had, very briefly, considered faking a negative test result, but she knew Adam, she knew he would want to do his own paternity test and he would oversee it rigorously.

Besides, she couldn’t risk him doing a paternity test on Olivia too.

So she had simply bided her time, and knew the moment would come.

And so it had. Adam wanted to take Abigail with him to the company. And Charlotte had made sure that she had been ready.

She had pre-ordered her car to be brought to her room, had the driver plan the quickest route to the office, had her personal servants dressed in business attire and positioned in various places in the company.

If Abigail did something even slightly worth a blemish, it would be recorded in perfect high definition. Charlotte had been almost, dare she say it, excited.

At the company, though, Abigail proved to be an entire nuisance. She gave every appearance of working hard and diligently, focused on the progress of the company and nothing else. She didn’t so much as let a single eye stray anywhere.

And almost the entire day, everything passed without incident.

And then it happened. And Charlotte could almost groan in frustration.

One of the underlings bumped into Abigail, spilling his papers everywhere. Ordinarily, if that had been her or Olivia in that place, the man would have been fired on the spot. But Charlotte thought she could spin it in way that suited her.

One of her servants brought her the recording immediately – prompt girl, that one – and Charlotte made her way to Adam’s office, spinning her story as she went.

She decided to go in calmly. Because the video wasn’t that damning on its own, Charlotte had to give the story before showing it to him.

She entered his office, using her fingerprint for the biometric lock, she strode right into his office, and collapsed into the armchair in front of his desk.

Adam kept typing away at his computer.

“You know,” Charlotte began. “I tried not to object, I tried to give you your time to go through whatever this is that you’re going through.”

Adam looked up at her, raising an eyebrow.

“But now you’ve brought the company into this,” Charlotte continued. “A company that thousands depend on for their living.”

Adam’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline, and Charlotte knew she was laying it on a little too thick. She had never once cared about anyone besides herself, she couldn’t pretend to even care.

So she rolled it back a little.

“The basis of our empire, and you bring her here,” Charlotte said without losing steam. “And all she’s interested in is flirting and gold digging where she can.”

“I see,” Adam said, lacing his fingers together, turning to his wife. “And I assume after such a bold statement, you have proof of this?”

Charlotte simply placed the phone on the desk, the video already opened and pressed play.

In all truth, the video wasn’t so damaging on its own. Sure, it showed some possible flirting between co-workers, but in this world of power and prestige, almost nothing was insignificant.

And this one was definitely nothing small.

“Do you know who that is?” Charlotte asked.

“Of course I know who that is,” Adam sniped, “I’m not an oblivious moron when it comes to who works in my company.”

“Oh, good,” Charlotte said again, waving her hand airily. “So, then you know the man Abigail is flirting with is the head of your finances department.”

Charlotte struggled to control her glee. Apparently, the man Abigail had bumped into wasn’t an underling after all, but the second in command for the Chief Financial Officer.

Charlotte had laughed with how many ways she could spin this story, sabotage to the company, gold-digging at its worst, or simply stealing from them. Abigail might be Adam’s biological daughter, but when it came to within the company walls, she was most definitely still an outsider.