"I vote for Mr. Austin." Kraig kept his head down.
Debra fell silent. She''d braced for the worst, but never thought a veteran on her team would betray her.
"Well, that settles it," Jason smiled. "Mrs. Houston, the top spot isn''t yours anymore. The shareholders have spoken..."
Jordan''s voice cut through the room. "Who said that''s the final vote?"
His appearance surprised everyone, including Debra.
"Didn''t you double-check the McKinney Group''s shares?" he added.
Seven shareholders were present: four from the Frazier Group, and three from the corporate side. The results of the vote were clear enough.
Jason didn''t flinch. "I don''t think you hold any shares. You''ve got no say here."
"I don''t," Jordan replied. "But someone does."
He pulled out an equity document. "This is Andrew''s 1% stake in the McKinney Group. He authorized me to vote for Mrs. Houston."
Jason''s brow furrowed. The other shareholders swapped confused looks. They had never heard Andrew had any shares.
Debra stared at the equity paper, confused as well.
"You can verify it," Jordan said. "Back when the Frazier Group and the McKinney Group hadn''t merged, Andrew owned 10% of the Frazier Group. After the merger, it converted to 1% of the McKinney Group. He''s low-key, and it''s just 1%, so he never bothered showing up to meetings. But this election''s big, so he sent me to speak for him. No objections, right?"<fnfa46> Follow current nov?ls on fin?novel</fnfa46>
The room buzzed with whispers. No one knew about this, not even Debra.
But with Andrew''s name on it, they could not argue. Even though he wasn''t the Potter family head anymore, his clout lingered.
Debra picked up the equity document. Andrew''s signature was clear, stamped with the old Frazier Group''s seal. The paper was yellowed but legit. She even spotted her father''s signature.
It appeared her father had given it to Andrew as a gift. She just didn''t know why.
Her head spun with questions. She almost forgot she was still in a shareholder meeting.